ELECTION material distributed by Bury North Conservatives refers to Labour's 75p pension increase as an insult.
Quite right, it was an insult and an insult made possible by Conservative legislation.
It was the Labour government of the early 70s which linked pension increases to either the rise in prices or the average increase in earnings, whichever was the greater.
In 1982 Mrs Thatcher removed the link with earnings, since which time pensions have been increased in line with prices by both Labour and Conservative governments.
In September 1999, prices had increased by just one per cent and, by application of the rules permitted by the Conservative legislation of 1982, pensions were consequently increased by 75 per week.
It is my conclusion that a Conservative government, in similar circumstances, would have applied the same rules and increased pensions strictly in accordance with the rise in prices.
Will John Walsh, or his agent, tell the electorate of Bury North unequivocally whether my conclusion is correct. Or would a Conservative government in 1999 have acted differently and, if so, how? Also, would a future Conservative government act in accordance with the 1982 legalisation or would it ignore that legislation?
F. CHADWICK,
Walshaw Road,
Bury.
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