Saturday, November 02, 2013

Labour "delutes" pension policy

It was the word "delutes" that caught my attention. Never totally secure about my own vocabulary I did check to see if this was a real word. It isn't. Labour have 'diluted' their pension policy. Vernon Small reports:

Finance spokesman David Parker, a strong advocate of raising the age, downplayed the significance of the policy platform change.
He said it was a high level document and the party's detailed policy would not be known until closer to the 2014 election.
He said "you will have to wait until we release our manifesto" when asked if a rise to 67, or some other age, would be part of Labour's manifesto.
Yesterday former MP Jenny Kirk said all options should be investigated to maintain the current 65 pension age.
Lifting the age to 67 was "an electoral turnoff".
But Parker argued against holding the age at 65, saying it would make his job harder.
He said Labour was always positioned as a tax and spend party by National and as finance spokesman he would have a much tougher job promoting extra spending on Labour policy in health and education if the state pension age did not rise over time.

Parker has my sympathy. Anything that cuts handouts is an "electoral turnoff". What a gutless position. This was the one policy that made me take Labour seriously.

Update: Headline now corrected.

3 comments:

JC said...

Earlier polls suggest its not the turnoff he suggests. But it is an issue for Maori and those nearing retirement, ie, often Labour voters.

Supporting something like Peter Dunne's proposal would get him off the hook to a fair degree but might alenate the yoof.

JC

Lindsay Mitchell said...

It wasn't Parker saying it was a "turn off". It was some ex Labour MP.

thor42 said...

I saw that "delutes" word too, Lindsay!

Maybe they're planning to remove lutes from elderly people!