If I had to give one piece of advice to Britons under 30 it would be this: go. Leave. Skedaddle. Get one of those work visas for New Zealand or Canada and start a new life. Fret not over the details. Those can be worked out once you’re there. Don’t make excuses, don’t defer, don’t delay. Trust me, you’ll regret it one day. Think of Britain as the creepy, cobweb-bound manor from a thousand schlocky horror movies: get out while you still can.
Aptly for a horror flick, the call is coming from inside the House. In delivering his Autumn Statement to the Commons, the Chancellor announced ‘the biggest ever increase in the state pension’. This rise, a fulfilment of the triple-lock pledge, will mean an extra £870 for every pensioner from next April. Addressing ‘the millions of pensioners who will benefit from this measure’, Jeremy Hunt said: ‘Now and always, this government are on your side.’
You could quote those nine words to anyone born after 1980 and they would be able to guess, with a 100 per cent accuracy rate, which demographic they were addressed to. The Conservative party has no principle, no policy, no purpose except for taking money from workers and using it to buy the votes of boomers.
It wouldn’t be so bad if they targeted the money at boomers on low incomes. But that would involve prioritising those most in need and that seems to be anathema to the Tories. It’s not even that they cling to the outdated notion of pensioners as the poorest age group, as some in the general populace still do. No, it’s simply that the Conservative party cannot pass a wealthy person without trying to make him even wealthier.
The Chancellor did announce an uplift to the national living wage of 92p per hour and while any increase is to be welcomed, the new £10.42
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