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Mr Willetts' policy proposals put some clear blue water between the Tories and Labour on issues encompassing the state benefit system, welfare to work, and the savings culture. With the nation's 11 million pensioner voters clearly in their sights, Mr Willetts promised a basic state pension that would be "better than ever before". Letters will be sent out "from today" to alert pensioners that a Tory government would boost their basic pension and remove means-tested benefits from the equation. But it appeared that withdrawing means-testing will be gradual, with Mr Willetts admitting that only one million pensioners would be taken off the pension credit in the first parliamentary term. Mr Willetts told delegates this morning that the elderly had been "punished for their prudence" by the chancellor, Gordon Brown. Of those entitled to claim the pensions credit, 1.7 million failed to do so because it is "so nightmarishly complicated". The savings made from axing means-tested benefits and abandoning the New Deal programme will fund a higher state pension for all, he said. "Means tests on this scale are a threat to the dignity and independence of today's pensioners," he said. "And how on earth will we get the next generation to save if they see their parents who have worked hard and saved hard being punished for their prudence? "The moment a Conservative government is in office we will send out a clear instruction that the pension should be uprated [raised] by earnings, not prices." Mr Willetts' call came as research published today by the Nationwide building society showed that an estimated four out of 10 people in the UK think they will not have enough income for their retirement. Women accounted for two-thirds of those who thought they would not have sufficient levels of cash, the study showed. Mr Willetts said lifetime savings would be introduced to give workers incentives to save, and bosses would be given "a direct interest" to ensure their staff had access to a decent pension scheme. "Just about everyone agrees we need to reverse the spread of means-tested benefits and improve incentives to save by increasing the value of the basic state pension. It's not just us. It's business, and the trade unions." He also dismissed the New Deal programme introduced in Labour's first term to help people back into work, which he said "hasn't worked". He attacked the country's chain of job centres, which he said were steeped in "cumbersome bureaucracy". The Tories would introduce their own formula, called "work first", run without the help of civil servants, he said. With an eye on using the private sector to resolve unemployment, Mr Willetts said: "We will work with charities and commercial providers to transform the opportunities facing our own young people." In a bid to win the votes of those whose pension schemes folded, Mr Willetts pledged to use the unclaimed assets of banks and building societies to rebuild pension funds. And, in a further appeal to the "grey vote", Mr Willetts said the biggest discrimination in the UK today was not gender, race or religion, but age. He called on more charities to champion the rights and opportunities of older people, though he fell short of committing a future Tory government to play a role.
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