BURY North MP Alistair Burt was at the heart of the sensational plans to revolutionise the state pension scheme announced this week.

Mr Burt was involved with fellow social security ministers in drawing up the radical shake-up, which wrong-footed the pundits when his boss, social security secretary Peter Lilley, announced it this week.

Mr Burt said working on the top-secret proposals was "a very good professional experience".

The changes to the pension scheme, which will not come in fully until towards the middle of the next century, go much further than pundits predicted on Wednesday, March 5, morning.

It will see private pensions replace the basic state pension with special National Insurance rebates and guarantees that everyone will receive at least an inflation-protected basic state pension.

Said Mr Burt: "This will make no difference to most people now. This is putting something in place for our grandchildren."

Mr Burt said he thought it unlikely that the plans would put "clear blue water" between the Tories and Labour in the run-up to the General Election.

He said the cost of an increasingly ageing population is something that any party would have to address, and felt many Labour politicians would agree with them.

What did please Mr Burt and fellow ministers was the way that the announcement was not "spoiled" by leaks, with national newspapers and broadcasters not guessing the extent of the proposals.

"They got it wrong," said Mr Burt, adding that the Department had been working on the scheme for some time.

He added: "Politically I think it shows we are a good Government with ideas for tomorrow. This is not a short-term move to put money in people's pockets, it is a sensible move to cope with a problem we must face."

The proposals will now go out for consultation, but there will be no chance to start the process of making them law before the General Election.

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