Osborne quizzed by Tory councillors on pensions

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne found himself tackled by two Shepton Mallet town councillors from his own party over pensions when he visited the town last week.

Mr Osborne admitted the government could not afford to provide an across the board increase in pensions, an issue which concerned Judy Bartlett and Jeanette Marsh.

They wanted to know why existing pensioners would not get the same increases as new pensioners, and asked about the impact of proposed changes on married women, who currently get no pension at all.

Mr Osborne said: “What we have done is increase pensions for new pensioners so the basic state pension will go up in line with peoples earnings.

“At the same time we are looking at reforming pensions in the future and planning to amalgamate pensions for future pensioners.

“We’ve got to phase it in over many years. We could not afford to just suddenly pay a really huge increase in pensions for many years to come.

“If you are a married woman you will be entitled to full pension.”

Mr Osborne was in Shepton Mallet visiting the Cider Mill and giving Conservative party activists a boost the day before the district and town council elections.

The tour was announced at less than 24 hours notice but still managed to attract plenty of attention form local party workers.

Asked about government support for the drinks industry, Mr Osborne said that the government had shown its support by abandoning a cider tax proposed by his Labour predecessor Alistair Darling.

He said the government was doing all it could to support village pubs.

He said: We’ve been able to freeze business rates to help 14,000 village pubs. It was a difficult decision that cost the Treasury money but we felt it was the right thing to do.

“And we’ve been able to cut the tax rate on profits that pubs make.”

He defended his decision for a 1p cut in fuel duty, a cut that was swiftly swallowed up by spiralling fuel prices, but added that he was impotent in the face of the world oil market.

“What I tried to do was use the resources we had to help motorists. But I’m not in charge of the world’s oil price.

“What we also did was stop a planned increase which was coming in. Petrol would be 5 to 6p more expensive a litre if we hadn’t. I think I’ve done a lot to help motorists.”

The Chancellor was taken on a tour of the site, and sampled some of the company’s products.

Bob Cork, master cider maker and general manager at the mill, said: “We were delighted when we were told that Mr Osborne wanted to include the Shepton Mallet Cider Mill on his visit to the West Country.

“We are an employer of choice in the local area and justly proud of the site. It was good to really show off what we have achieved here.”

Also in mid-Somerset last week was another minister, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, who came to Wells to drum up support for local Conservative candidates and to help with the No to AV campaign in the referendum on the UK’s voting system.