It’s not ‘pensioner-bashing’ to point out the young have it tough, writes James Hanson

It was provoked by the Chancellor describing the student loans system as “fair and reasonable”. Rachel Reeves also claimed the decision to freeze the repayment threshold was necessary to “bring down NHS waiting lists” - essentially admitting that crippling interest payments are being used by the treasury as a form of taxation.

It’s pretty clear that student finance is just one of the many ways the deck has been stacked against those of us in our 20s and 30s. Sky-high rents and unaffordable prices mean most young people are locked out of the housing market. Graduate unemployment is rising, a record number of young people aren’t in education, employment or training, and many are now voting with their feet and leaving the country altogether, in search of new opportunities in places like Dubai.

To make matters worse, successive governments have actively prioritised older voters over the young. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the triple lock guarantee for state pensions, the annual cost of which is forecast to reach £15.5bn by 2030. The policy was a good idea when it was introduced by the coalition government, but its day has long since passed. Why should the richest generation in British history, baby boomers, have inflation-proof increases in the state pension subsidised by younger taxpayers?

And it’s not just the triple lock. Last year, the government claimed free bus passes for under-22s in England would be ‘unaffordable’, and yet it still finds the money to fund them for over-65s. Over 60s railcards contain greater benefits than those for under-30s. At the budget last year, the Chancellor even said pensioners who rely on the state pension alone won’t have to pay income tax on it - now that it’s due to exceed the personal allowance. Quite right too, you might argue. But why not do the same for a single mum in her 20s whose part-time income tips her over the threshold?

Sadly, our society seems immune to a rational conversation about intergenerational fairness. Whenever I raise this issue on air, I get accused of ‘pensioner-bashing’. It’s not ‘pensioner-bashing’ to point out the challenges facing young people today, or to ask that politicians listen to our concerns. No-one is denying that pensioners faced their own problems growing up. They didn’t have it easy. But in many ways they had it easier - and it’s entirely legitimate to point that out.

Forty years ago the average house price was around three times the average annual salary. Today it’s seven or eight times, and higher still in London and the south-east. Stagnant wages coupled with unaffordable housing has resulted in living standards becoming ever-more squeezed. In fact, millennials are now the first generation in British history to earn less than our predecessors. When the absurd cost of childcare is factored in, is it any wonder the birth rate is falling?

Any successful society should provide incentives for young people to work hard, earn more, have children, and pay lots of tax. Instead, successive governments have constructed a system full of perverse disincentives. In order to properly address any problem, you first have to admit there is one. Gaslighting young people by denying the challenges we face won’t fly. Stop accusing us of pensioner-bashing and start listening.

Listen to James Hanson on LBC on Sunday mornings between 4-7am.

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