EVERY year millions of pensioners hope this Labour government will break with its tradition of being the skinflint party and substantially increase pensions, but every year for those pensioners who worked all their lives it's the same old story peanuts'.

In 1974 our very own then MP Barbara Castle noted that the retirement pension had declined to such an extent in relation to earnings that she immediately gave pensioners a 26 per cent increase, a far cry from the latest miserly increase of just over two to five per cent.

In 1996 the Labour Party accepted a commitment to restore the link between earnings and pensions if they won the election.

The grey' vote elected Labour but the party has made no attempt to restore the link.

Yearly rises in the cost of energy and council taxes plus the stealth rises in supermarkets mean that every year pensioners are poorer.

What makes the pensions fiasco even more ridiculous is that while the state pension has been increased by £2.19 the government keeps coming up with ludicrous ideas to waste public money, the latest being rewarding 13-19 year-olds £25 a month if they keep out of trouble.

Perhaps it is time for the grey' brigade to don their teddy-boy suits and cause havoc.

After all, £25 would come in handy!

J ALLAN (Mr), Rothesay Road, Blackburn.