BASIC STATE PENSION AND THE LINK WITH EARNINGS

That this House notes that the weekly basic state pension will rise to £97.65 in April 2010; recognises that if the link between pensions and earnings had not been broken in 1980 the basic state pension would now be £158.60; further notes that this is below the official poverty level of 60 per cent. or less of the average UK household income, estimated at £165 a week in 2009; believes that the basic state pension should be increased to this level so that no pensioner lives in poverty; and further believes that pensioner income in excess of that level should be taxed as part of a progressive taxation system.