May 2007
I hope that by the time you read this column there will be one big winner in the Assembly elections – democracy.
The number of people using their vote in past elections has been disappointingly low. One encouraging development in recent years however has been the growth of Schools Councils.
I recently met the Glanafan Comprehensive School Council and was impressed with the enthusiasm of the pupils for the democratic process and active citizenship through voluntary work in the community.
It is also impressive how more senior citizens participate in voting – either by post or at the polling booth. Having experienced war and unemployment and the building of the welfare state the older generation know the importance of the vote. They deserve the improvements in pensions which we have witnessed over the past decade.
Much of the media has been very misleading in its attacks on the Chancellor Gordon Brown over the past month. The Pensions' Bill which he has greatly influenced is a major milestone in the growing improvement in the lot of pensioners.
In 1997 the Labour Government made it its first priority to tackle the legacy of pensioner poverty. Since then, we have succeeded in helping more than a million pensioners out of relative poverty and two million out of absolute poverty.
The new Pensions Bill will mean a difference in four ways. Firstly it will guarantee to link the Basic State pension to earnings. This will mean that the state pension would be twice its present value by 2050.
Secondly, it will make the system fairer for women and carers – a subject close to my heart. Reducing the number of years needed for a full Basic State Pension, and introducing weekly credits to recognise and reward caring in the same way as working, means that almost half a million more women aged between 46 and 56 now will retire with a full state pension.
The Pensions Bill also commits the Government to gradually raise the state pension age in the decades ahead to make the changes affordable as improvements to health mean we live longer and longer into retirement.
And finally, the Government has put £8 billion aside to compensate all those like Allied Steel and Wire workers whose occupational pension schemes have collapsed.
Let me end on a lighter note. I was very pleased to visit the Aberavon Harlequins RFC recently to be part of the celebrations of the 25th Anniversary of winning the Glamorgan Silver Ball. The club has a great past, and thanks to its junior and youth policy it has a great future - James Hook, a product of their under 10s, is proof of that! Well done the Quins!
