How Could We Protect Universal Pensioner and Working Age Benefits Against More Stringent Means Testing by the Treasury ?
This particularly thorny question is the subject of much discussion at present. It has also resulted in many sleepless nights for many of our pensioners and for single occupiers of all ages, who now fully expect to lose some or all of their entitlements on October 30 th . There is little doubt that Starmer and Reeves are planning to use the ‘Tory Black Hole’, as they call it, to justify both swingeing benefit cuts and tax rises in the Autumn Statement. The size of this new ‘celestial’ phenomenon is reputed to be £22Bn, although it should be noted that the calculations supporting it have never been fully verified. To put the amount properly in context, the calculation was based on an audit performed by the treasury in July, comparing the Spring Budget Forecast of £1226 Bn for total public spending with a post-election updated estimate by Labour. If this is correct, the difference would represent only a 1.8% underestimate of spend (i.e. well within 'experimental' error f