War veterans urge Government to unfreeze pensions
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British war veterans living outside the UK are preparing to hand their medals back in protest at their pensions being frozen by the Government.
Pensions minister Steve Webb (pictured) will today receive a petition from more than 100 former military expatriates living across the Commonwealth. The International Consortium of British Pensioners says the “discriminatory” freeze affects more than 500,000 British pensioners.
ICBP spokesman John Markham says: “After 50 years of injustice it has comer to the stage where men and women who fought for this country feel so abandoned that they would renounce their hard won war medals. These brave veterans deserve better than to be robbed of their glory as well as the pensions they paid for all their working lives.
“We are grateful that Steve Webb, who has been a long supporter of our cause, as has Nick Clegg, is formally accepting this important testimony on behalf of the Prime Minister.”
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Readers' comments (3)
Jim Tilley | 17 Dec 2010 11:21 am
It's about time this absolute social injustice is resolved. The current NI account has a balance of over £40 billion. The problem is it has been borrowed and misused, probably to spend on, among other things, bombs and bullets.
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rainbowfarmau | 18 Dec 2010 0:38 am
The freezing regime is so selective that some pensioners living in Israel have their pensions indexed, while some others have their pensions frozen. It depends on where you live in Israel. You only get indexation if you live in parts of Israel that were under Israeli government control in 1956.
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Anthony Balch | 18 Dec 2010 1:04 pm
I am 84 and a veteran Royal Navy man who served at DDay. Living in Canada my pension has been frozen since I first received it when I was 65. Nearly 20 years of depreciation and plunging exchange rates makes what I receive now a pittance. The current political leaders should live up to their pre election promises and end this unfair discrimination NOW.
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