ES Views: Thrifty pensioners will be penalised for saving hard

I am dismayed at the proposals in the Conservative Party manifesto to means-test the winter fuel payment.

It is claimed that the “poorest pensioners” would be protected, which I am sure will mean that only those on Pension Credit will qualify. Once again, thrifty pensioners who have put some modest savings by will be punished for their foresight.

Many of us on low incomes have made great sacrifices throughout our working life to provide for our future. It would be fairer to invite the wealthy to voluntarily forgo these benefits, rather than punishing those of very modest means who happen to be just above the benefit threshold. It is no wonder people are saving so little when they see what happens to their money.

This measure will almost certainly be the thin end of the wedge. Once the precedent has been set for means-testing a previously universal benefit, we can be sure that others will follow, such as our precious travel concessions — without which I certainly could not afford to live in London.

It is mainly owing to the misguided privatisation of our utilities that electricity and gas prices have become so unaffordable. This makes Labour’s promise of renationalisation very attractive to the poorer voter. Theresa May needs to realise how many votes she stands to lose through this current proposal.
Judith Howard

I cannot believe the furore over the proposal to means-test the fuel allowance, particularly from people who can well afford it.

We need to means-test more benefits and get this country off its dependency culture and back to an independency culture so the money can be better spent. Everyone seems to want something for nothing.

I am now retired but was receiving fuel benefit for a few years while earning £60,000-70,000 a year and I gave it to charity.

When the Conservatives came into power they asked for suggestions as to how to reduce benefits. I suggested this among others, so blame me.
A G Surrey

Fairness between the generations is an important concept and, in that context and also because of Brexit, it’s not unreasonable to revisit the pension “triple-lock”, social-care costs and winter fuel payments.

But it is extraordinarily poor political judgment to allow Labour to claim that those in the middle, neither wealthy nor Pension Credit recipients, will be stripped of their fuel payments by Theresa May. Surely only those paying higher rate income tax should lose out ?

This own goal suggests a worrying immaturity among the Prime Ministers’s advisers.
John Gemmell

Tory policy unfair on foreign spouses

Many of us who have a foreign spouse are not allowed to claim any benefits and have to pay an NHS surcharge for them. To raise the income threshold further would possibly see the break-up of our families, and some of us have British-born children.

The Tories’ policy of increasing the income threshold to sponsor a foreign spouse is an attack on British folk who have a constitutional right to marry a foreigner while other non-UK or EU people are allowed to settle in Britain. I doubt that Mrs May understands the distress that this is causing.
S Wigston

Praise for work from World Jewish Relief

Like me, readers of the Londoner’s Diary were no doubt fascinated to read Gina Miller’s judgment last week that “breakfast doesn’t mean breakfast” [May 17]. But readers may also have been interested to learn that Ms Miller was speaking at a lunch in aid of World Jewish Relief, a London-based international development agency, and not, as was reported, in aid of the World Jewish Forum.

Ms Miller praised World Jewish Relief’s work in finding sustainable employment for vulnerable women. We were pleased to see a promise to help the world’s most vulnerable communities in the manifestos of the major political parties.
Richard Verber​, World Jewish Relief

Benefits are the key to rising hunger

Trussell Trust food banks provided 1.18 million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis last year, and issues with benefits remain the most common reason for referral. The rate of Trust food banks opening has dropped dramatically — yet the number of people needing them rises.

Tackling issues with benefits is the first thing we can do to stop hunger in the UK, which is why we are working with the Government to find solutions so fewer people need food banks.
Abby Jitendra, The Trussell Trust

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Bank ban doesn't benefit everyone

The new car ban at Bank junction will cause more delays, and displaced traffic will increase congestion and pollution elsewhere.

It is vital that an overall assessment of this is included in the “trial”. Any experiment of this kind must take into account its effect on the wider area beyond its immediate scope.

The published scheme data does not seem to include the Transport for London pollution modelling, or figures for the type of vehicles there, which makes public evaluation much more difficult.
Mike Snowden
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Yesterday was a day to celebrate for the 18,000 pedestrians who use Bank junction regularly, as well as bus-users and people on bikes passing through.

Thanks to the City’s decision to ban cars, we can look forward to a big reduction in the high number of pedestrian casualties and much greater enjoyment of the space. But the closure must be made permanent when the experiment ends.
David Harrison, London Living Streets

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Wenger's failure to spend is crucial

Arsene Wenger’s failure for the first time in 20 years to qualify for the Champions’ League is no surprise to me or my fellow Arsenal supporters, who have seen this coming for a long time.

As other teams around us spend astronomical funds to help them compete for the title, Wenger has been found wanting, believing the squad was good enough — clearly it wasn’t. The likes of Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka, bought for a combined £70 million last summer, have struggled to make an impact. The team, both mentally and physically, seems to be some way off a genuine title challenge.

Alexis Sanchez has been the Gunners’ best player by some margin this season, while I still believe Mesut Ozil is a quality player. Lose them and Wenger may not want to renew his deal for the next campaign.
​Omar Ahmed

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