Ministers defend £2.75billion pension tax cut for some of nation’s wealthiest as polls suggest only a FIFTH of Brits think Jeremy Hunt’s Budget was good for them
- Oliver Dowden said it will encourage doctors, teachers and cops to keep working
- But more than four in 10 voters said that the pension move was a bad idea
A senior minister defended a plan to hand some of the nation’s wealthiest people a bumper pension tax cut today amid signs that the Budget has not gone down well with voters.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt used last week’s fiscal showpiece to abolish the tax-free limit on pensions savings, which had stood at £1.07 million.
Oliver Dowden defended the move, which will cost £2.75 billion over the next five years, arguing it will encourage senior doctors, teachers and police officers to stay in work.
But critics have said it is a very blunt tool which will also help wealthy people in other professions save money.
As the Tories chase an upswing in their fortunes that will allow them to win an election next year, a poll by Opinium suggested that fewer than a fifth of voters regarded the Budget as good for them.
Almost half (49 per cent) of all voters didn’t know if it was good or bad for them , and as concerning for the party 43 per cent of Tory voters were not sure either.
More than four in 10 voters said that the pension move specifically was a bad idea, with just a quarter (26 per cent) supporting it.
Oliver Dowden defended the move, which will cost £2.75 billion over the next five years, arguing it will encourage senior doctors, teachers and police officers to stay in work.
As the Tories chase an upswing in their fortunes that will allow them to win an election next year, a poll by Opinium suggested that fewer than a fifth of voters regarded the Budget as good for them.
More than four in 10 voters said that the pension move specifically was a bad idea.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated the pension change could boost the workforce by 15,000 as people who might otherwise have retired to avoid breaching the lifetime allowance decide to stay on instead.
Senior Cabinet Office minister Mr Dowden told the BBC: ‘We’ve taken this action and the consequence of it is we’ll have more senior public sector workers working in the public sector, helping deliver on our core priorities, whether that’s cutting the waiting list, because we’ll have more consultants, whether that’s getting crime under control.’
Challenged that the wealthy individuals who benefit went far beyond public sector workers, Mr Dowden said: ‘I think it’s a basic, decent principle that if people work hard, they should be able to save money and invest for their retirement.’
However shadow Treasury chief secretary Pat McFadden said: ‘The vast majority of pensioners won’t benefit from the Government’s proposals because they will never get near a pension pot of more than £1 million.
‘The Government should rethink this giveaway and instead focus on a scheme to deal with the early retirement problems facing the NHS.’
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