Budget 2014: what was hidden in the small print

oldcoldinbali. You appear to be saying all those pensioners not actually living in the UK ie: x pats should have there pensions raised. Sorry, I am a 51 year old who has worked all my life and firmly believe all pensioners and others who do not live in the UK should not have there pensions raised and not receive other benefits as they no longer LIVE in the UK. I also believe any person coming to live and work here in the UK but have there children living in there home country should not be claiming and receiving Child benefit etc for those children.

What a rant!

The budget sounds most encouraging for the poorer paid with the increase in the personal allowance. A well overdue change though. Savers will be better off. However, it was the Governments and bankers that screwed them up in the first place so this is only partially making up for the suffering they, the savers, had to put up with over the last couple of years through no fault of theirs. There is no doubt that this budget is handing out £ millions to various areas to improve the peoples and the country’s position which appears to be good news all round. One hopes for a better Great Britain in the future. Having read through the Budget speech in full I was a bit surprised that the UK is now doing so well and the people of Britain have something to look forward to. But just a minute, there has been much said about the financial state of the UK being a reason that the DWP cant afford to uprate frozen pensions to those 550,000 pensioners living in some countries. Well this budget speech surely indicates that the DWP can now say, that with such a glowing future forecast in this budget, they can and will stop the discrimination and uprate those 550,000 pensions so they will get equality with the other 660,000 pensioners living overseas, which have the same equality with the pensioners in the UK. (well after all the N.I. fund still stands with a £25+ billion balance). Q.E.D all pensioners will have the “equality for all” promised as being the governments policy, and the full pension they are entitled to. This is surely supported by the words spoken in the budget speech: “I can report today that the economy is continuing to recover – and recovering faster than forecast. It is all part of a long term economic plan – a plan that is delivering security for the people of this country. But later this year the OBR expects Britain to reach the point when our economy is finally larger than before it collapsed six years ago”. Frozen pensioners also need that security; they are people of the UK. They worked hard to get the county on its feet after the last war. For far too long they have been treated unfairly. Now is the time to put things right. “ - - we’re now growing faster than Germany, faster than Japan, faster than the US – in fact there is no major advanced economy in the world growing faster than Britain today”. With such an “advanced” economy now, how can the uprating be refused? Even the Prime Minister recently said: “we are a wealthy country, - - money is no object” ?? “We set out today the details of that welfare cap – and we will seek the support of Parliament for it next week. Only the State Pension and the cyclical unemployment benefits are excluded”. The state pension is not welfare. It is an entitlement earned and paid for as set out in the Pension Act not in any “welfare and social” act. “This is a Budget for building a resilient economy. - - - a plan that is delivering security for the people of this country”. The 550,000 frozen pensioners are “people of this country”. They need security for the future the same as the other pensioners. “So in this Budget we make sure hardworking people keep more of what they earn – and more of what they save”. Today support for savers is at the centre of this Budget, as we take another step towards our central mission: economic security for the people of Britain. Did you forget to add “except for frozen pensioners?” or do you REALLY mean all people of Britain? OBR and economic forecasts “It is a credit to the OBR that we now take for granted that figures presented at this Despatch Box are not fiddled but fair and independent” It’s a pity that the OBR, (Office for Budget Responsibility). Did not make sure that estimate for government projects were fair and correct instead of being £millions overspent or had to be seriously increased during progress. Do they check on the failure to collect taxes from those big companies that have got away with £billions? “A year ago at the Budget the OBR forecast the economy to grow by just 0.6% in 2013.They now confirm that it grew by three times as much”. Just another point for the frozen pensioners. “A year ago, OBR said growth in 2014 would be 1.8%. At the Autumn Statement, 2.4%. Today the OBR forecast growth in 2014 of 2.7%. That’s the biggest upward revision to growth between Budgets for at least 30 years” That’s worth a couple more points for the FPs at least! “Growth next year is also revised up to 2.3%.Then it’s 2.6% in 2016 and 2017. And with the output gap closed around a year earlier than previously predicted, growth returns to around its long term trend, at 2.5% in 2018. Taken together, these growth figures mean our economy will be £16 billion larger than was forecast just four months ago”. Come on you Ministers! With such a glowing picture from the Chancellor I suggest you stop looking for pathetic excuses to continue this discrimination against FPs and give them equality, justice, fairness and NO discrimination. “Our new pound coin - - In honour of our Queen, will take the shape of one of the first coins she appeared on – the threepenny bit”. Yes, you should now honour Her Majesty the Queen, especially after the insult inflicted on her the day she signed the Commonwealth Charter in good faith declaring the Commonwealth was against all forms of discriminating and the Pension Minister declared that FP discrimination had been operating “for decades and decades and decades” and will continue to do so”. This insult was a disgrace and unforgiveable. Personally I don’t know how you can call yourself “a loyal subject”. “The independent statistics show that under this government income inequality is at its lowest level for 28 years. So beside the FPs who else suffers inequality? “We will also insist on the prudent management of departmental finances”. Perhaps you should start with the DWP. They have failed in managing a fund set up primarily for the management of payment and collection of finds for the State Pension. Now they loan it out and some pensioners have to go without the increase they ARE entitled to. There are many other areas that could be examined more closely but at face value this budget is good for the people, good for industry and trade. But mainly its good for this government as the best “party political, vote for us” speech made for many years. Need I say more about pre-election promises and speeches? The last words from Mr O? “But we should be alert to the risks” Could that be the risk of losing at the coming election because he public have seen through the white-wash? “The question for the British people is: who has the credibility to deliver them?” Surely a very difficult question for even the experts?