Compare and contrast UK pension policy with what is happening in France
Over the past few weeks we have seen extraordinary TV pictures from France of the demonstrations that are taking place against the decision by the Macron government to try to increase the pensionable age up from 64.
The anger is enormous as well as the scale of the protests which are far bigger than what we have seen in the UK.
I find it quite remarkable that the French are trying to preserve a punctual age of 64 while in the UK the plan is to edge up to 70. That is a massive difference.
There has been a fair bit of action here in recent years by the women who found that their retirement plans were changed by the move to a link male and female retirement dates together. It used to be that women could go at 60 while men were 65. Although there were protests the changes came in.
The reason all governments are looking at this these is because of the massive cost of pensions on the public purse. This has been increasing as a result of the general rise in life expectancy.
Will the protests stop the French plan? Probably. Will the UK pensionable age edge upto 70 then that likely