§ 5. Mr. McKayasked the Minister of pensions and National Insurance why the money value of pensions compared with the prevailing earnings of workmen is so much greater now than in 1946; what is the difference from this angle between the two periods; and if he will consider these factors when he considers pensions in future.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI think the hon. Gentleman is under some misapprehension. I would refer him to the figures relating to this matter which I gave him on 3rd December. In any event, the level of earnings of manual workers is only one of a number of factors which has to he taken into account in connection with National Insurance retirement pensions.
§ Mr. McKayIs it not correct, apart from the question of the workers themselves, that the income of the whole general community has risen tremendously since 1946, that dividends have risen by 82 per cent., national income by 80 per cent. and undistributed profits by about 190 per cent., so that the general money rise of incomes throughout the country has been extravagantly increased while pensions have been raised 6 by only 5 per cent.? It is a scandalous position, and I am quite sure that the Government are not the friends of the aged people in the attitude which they are adopting at the present moment.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterOn the last part of the Question, as the hon. Gentleman knows, the real value of pensions today is better than that when his right hon. Friends raised it in 1951, and if there is any question of friendship for that section of society, our claim is considerably better than theirs. The figures which he gave rather rapidly were, I think, figures of money income. The true test is the real value, and that is what is applicable both to pensions and other matters.