Surrender to the unions

When Edward Heath was held to ransom by the unions in 1974, he called an election with the stirring question, ‘Who governs Britain?’, to which the answer was ‘not you, chum’. It is incredible that after more than 30 years, when so much is meant to have changed, the unions have just rolled over a New Labour government, with disastrous consequences for the public finances.

Over the past year the Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson has made a series of bold interviews and speeches on the need to reform public sector pensions, whose over-generous provisions promise to bankrupt future governments. Mr Johnson’s determination and common sense made him a worthy ‘Minister to Watch’ at last year’s Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards. He remains a minister to watch, but now for a slightly different reason: an ability to perform U-turns at a speed of which a joyriding yobbo on a sink estate would be proud.

These are the words of the Trade Secretary, from an interview published at the weekend, still maintaining the need for reform. ‘[The argument for raising the retirement age of public sector workers from 60 to 65] is irrefutable. It is demographic change. We are healthier, living longer. The problem is there are fewer people working, funding more people in retirement. For us to say to the private sector you have to work longer and save more money, and to the public sector you stick with your retirement age is impossible.’

We could not have put the problem better ourselves. Yet here is Mr Johnson again, explaining on The World at One on Tuesday why, after all, he had decided that five million existing public sector workers can stick to retiring at 60. ‘What the unions have said, very forcefully, is that protection for existing staff is a priority …we can meet that.