Dodgy pensions advice from Blair and co

Today at Prime Minister's Questions, Ming Campbell, the leader of the Lib Dems, asked Tony Blair about the Parliamentary Ombudsman's finding that the Government's guidance on occupational pensions had been "inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent". Given that many employees had lost their pensions when their companies went under, there are growing calls for the Government to compensate them.

Blair's reply was that no responsible government could underwrite the massive financial risks that private citizens undertake with regard to their pensions.

Flaming cheek! One could ask him what created these 'risks' in the first place. I can think of two things off the top of my head. The first would be the dodgy guidance I have already referred to in this article. The second would be his pal Gordon's tax policies that currently see the loss of around £5bn each year from private pension funds.

Yes, the general public understand risk. What we do not understand is a Government that causes us, through its greed and incompetence, to lose our hard-earned savings, and then dares to lecture us on its illusory fiscal responsibility.