Jonathan Djanogly, the Member of Parliament for the Huntingdonshire Constituency, yesterday attacked the Government's new pension credit scheme.
Mr Djanogly said:
"The pension credit policy is a true sign that the Labour Party is reverting to its old socialist ways.
Despite Gordon Brown declaring, in 1993, that he wanted to bring about the end to the means test for our elderly people, a Government research paper has shown that the proportion of pensioners on means tested benefits has risen to over 55%.
Additionally, it is becoming increasingly clear that the effect of having the majority of pensioners subjected to means tested state dependency will significantly reduce the incentive of working people to save for retirement. And so Labour are creating a vicious circle of more state dependency and lower savings.
The failure of this policy was compounded by the fact that around £2.5 million pensioners who are entitled to receive their pension credit are not applying. Government research just published has shown that it is the lower income pensioners that are twice as likely not to be claiming this benefit as higher income pensioners."