Tory MP Philip Hammond, shadow work and pension’s secretary, hit out yesterday at the Government's failure to help people who lost their life savings when company schemes went bust. Mr Hammond said the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) set up by the Government 18 months ago has made partial payments to only 871 people out of 125,000 whose company pensions collapsed.
Since when was it the Government’s job to bail out people who have invested in to private pension funds? If I invest in a private company and it goes bust I don’t expect the government to hand back my cash and say better luck next time. So, why should individuals be guaranteed their money back when the company scheme they chose to invest in goes bust?
Which begs the question, why are the official opposition criticising the FAS for not handing out more of our taxes, when it should be asking how a pointless government agency can run up administrative costs of £7m – and hand out £3.5m of public money to failed investors? Have we really reach the point where we have a government famed for its tax and spend being opposed by the other side of the House for not spending enough?!! That's not opposition, it's encouragement.