Following the new Labour Government’s decision to means test the winter fuel allowance, rumours quickly emerged of a “plot” to do the same with the state pension. At first blush, this doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Surely all those wealthy pensioners don’t really need the state pension? But I think there are two important principles we need to consider before rushing headlong into this. First, a key tenet of Beveridge’s audacious plan to end want, was a system where everyone paid the same contribution, and everyone got the same benefit. This universalism was captured in the public imaginat…
