White paper due at midday

The white paper is expected to deal with both reform of the state pension system, proposing the retirement age rises by one year every decade from around the mid 2020's. The rise in the state pension, which was linked to earnings inflation by Barbara Castle in 1974 and scrapped by the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher in 1980, is also expected to be brought back under the white paper proposals by the year 2012 - although Gordon Brown has negotiated a get-out clause that would enable the Treasury to temporarily freeze the link to earnings should it deem the annual increase una...