War veterans lead pensions protest

Terry Hutt used the rally to call for free bus travel

Pensioners are staging an Armistice Day rally as they press for a fairer deal for the generation which fought to protect its country.

Between two and three thousand pensioners were expected to join the rally in Westminster in an effort to push up the basic state pension to £100 a week.

Ted Collins was among war veterans on the rally

Actor Tony Booth, the father-in-law of Tony Blair joined the National Pensioners' Convention (NPC) event.

Mr Booth contrasted government pensions policy with willingness to spend money on an Iraq war.

Billions had been set aside in "the relentless kowtowing to the US political and economic pressure" for an attack on Iraq, he said.

"As you all know, actions speak louder than words," said the former star of Till Death Us Do Part.

"Our Christmas message to Chancellor Scrooge must be loud and clear - no more words. We want action on pensions and we want action now."

The NPC believes the sacrifices of the wartime generation are not reflected in the £75 a week current basic state pension.

rally began with campaigners laying wreathes at the Cenotaph in memory of those killed in war. Gordon McLennan, 78, a member of the NPC's national council, told BBC News Online that those killed in action would be remembered throughout the day.

"But also very much to the front of our minds are those who participated in those wars, men and women, who are still living, many of them in straitened circumstances, indeed some in poverty," he said.

"We consider it our responsibility to that generation to campaign for a state pension on which they can live in dignity."

Travel campaign

Mr McLennan accused ministers of breaking their promises to pensioners.

Eighty-year-old war veteran Ted Collins, from Lambeth, said he was only able to live as he did because he could rely on help from his children.

Mr Collins, like many of the pensioners on the rally, wore his old beret and a string of medals.

Gordon McLennan accused ministers of breaking promises

Others, like 67-year-old Terry Hutt, from Epping, went in fancy dress.

Mr Hutt sported a cardboard bus on his head as part of his outfit as he campaigned for free bus travel for all pensioners.

"For us, free bus travel is a meal ticket," said Mr Hutt.

Scotland and Wales have already taken the step, and some English councils also provide free bus travel for OAPs.

Raw deal for women

Lambeth pensioner, Monica Armitage-Smith, who is in her 80s, told how she had served with MI6 in the Middle East during World War II.

"Like all my generation, we have people in office now who are so self-centred that they are not looking at what's on the ground around them," she said.

Mrs Armitage-Smith said the UK had a poor record of discrimination against women on pensions and other issues, she argued.

Rodney Bickerstaffe, president of the NPC, said the best way to honour those killed in action was by looking after those who survived.

"Sixty years ago today's pensioners thought the country was worth defending - now the country thinks they're worth just £75.50 a week," said Mr Bickerstaffe.

Retirement age

Monday's rally comes as the government prepares to publish a consultation paper on pensions policy later this year.

Speculation about that paper has centred around the problems facing occupational pensions.

Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith has also indicated people could be given a choice about their retirement age.

Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary David Willetts said Monday's protestors had good reason for their rally.

"Under this government, millions of pensioners have had to face the loss of dignity associated with being dependent on means-tested benefits," said Mr Willetts.

The Tory idea of increasing the basic pension for older people, who tended to be poorer, would help to tackle that problem, said Mr Willetts.