Dear Sir,
Since the election of a new Tory leader, never has there been a better time to petition on behalf of the UK’s 12 million pensioners for a decent State pension increase, because Britain’s pensioners are one of the most neglected and disadvantaged groups today..
In 1980: The Social Security Act introduced by Margaret Thatcher, broke the link between State pension increases, and male average earnings or inflation, whichever the higher, that was set up by the Labour Government of 1974 under Harold Wilson to protect the value of the UK State pension without means testing.
Had the link with earnings not been broken, the basic State pension for a single pensioner would now be worth about £30 a week more. Margaret Thatcher is directly responsible for deprivation and poverty among the majority of Britain’s 12 million pensioners today. This includes our World War 2 veterans.
EU State pensions are 3 to 4 times more than the UK’s meagre amount.
Britain’s basic State pension is simply too low, & young people have got the same hardship to come when they are old….
Which is why I have always believed in younger people supporting the elderly.
Today’s pensioners have paid into the system both taxes and National Insurance contributions all their working lives, in many cases 30, 40 and 50 years, therefore they are entitled to a decent State pension….and if pensioners were paid a decent level of State pension at least compared to Germany, Europe’s leading manufacturing and industry based country, UK pensioners would not need to have to apply for what so many regard as the humiliating means test, because this ensures they have to not only admit to their financial hardship, but they also have to prove it, too!!!
Statistics on poverty among the elderly are relevant, even though statistics change all the time, suffice to say that around 1 in 5, from a 12 million generation of elderly people live in poverty, and this poverty is so great that many elderly people are forced to make choices between paying their heating Bills, or buying food, and many pensioners are also forced to use food banks.
It is important to get the younger generations involved in this campaign on behalf of their Grandparents because I have always believed it is the duty of younger people to fight this cause on behalf of the elderly people of this country, effectively their Grandparents, because if it was not for their Grandparents, ie oldest pensioners who came through the War years, probably none of us would be here today…
It is also important to attract the attention of the national TV media and the local and regional press, and put this issue of elderly people, and their miserly state pensions, and old age poverty on the media map, because since the 80’s the national TV media have constantly and fundamentally buried this issue.
It should be remembered that Britain remains a very wealthy country, because we can fight foreign wars at the drop of a hat with hardly any questions asked about expense, and we can send billions round the world and all in the name of great Britain. Yet our elderly people are a problem. This is scandalous, this is rubbish!!!
I am hoping this petition I have set up will have the desired affect and gain enough signatures to be handed into Downing Street….
If readers wish to sign my petition, they can either email me so I can forward them the link to my petition, my email address is, michaelthompson533@btinternet.com , or they can try and find my petition under its petition title “Stand up for our grandparents. Increase the State pension for our elderly people””, or people can go to this link, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/increase-the-state-pension-for-our-elderly-people..
Please sign my petition to show your disgust at this disgraceful situation for all UK pensioners, that’s been ongoing for over 30 years, and force Parliament to discuss this issue, which will put the severe plight of Britain’s 12 million pensioners on the media map, and the meagre State pension they are supposed to live on, on the media map.
Our WW2 veterans particularly have paid for, and earned a decent State pension as a right.
Our WW2 veterans particularly should not be forced to be subjected to means tested charity, because this is precisely what means testing is, charity!
Please go to this link, and sign. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/increase-the-state-pension-for-our-elderly-people, or email me at MichaelThompson533@btinternet.com and I will forward you the link.
Yours Sincerely
Michael Thompson
Member of The South Devon People’s Assembly ( Against Austerity )
