Official records reveal that leadership contender David Miliband has accrued over half a million pounds in private earnings and expenses over a single year.
Over the financial year 2011-12, the former foreign secretary earned £446,320.60 in fees alone – for advice, directorships, speeches and lectures. For venture capital firm VantagePoint, he received £92,839.75 – for four-and-a-half days work. For a half day at Indus Basin Holdings, a private Hydroelectric venture on the Indian sub-continent, he took £7,560.85.
Danny Alexander’s line on pensions is simple, clear – and wrong. It is this: public sector pensions are ’unaffordable’, out of synch with private pensions, and have to be ‘reformed’. Payments into pension schemes therefore have to be increased – for teachers, medics and local government workers their contributions could double from next April. The retirement age has to rise – from 60 to 66 by 2020, hitting particularly hard women now aged 53-55. And pensions, when finally received, have to be cut back – by changing the accrual rate from final salary to average over working life.