Papers

THE CONSERVATIVES yesterday pointed a finger at the government's current spending spree and said it would campaign to freeze most Whitehall budgets, except health, education and pensions.

THE CONSERVATIVES will today promise to spend more money on health and education in the hopes it will bring "radical change" to the UK's hospitals and schools.

THE FT claims it has seen a draft of the Pensions Bill - due out today - which indicates the government is going to run with a flat rate levy rather than a risk-based premium scale to fund the new pensions protection fund.

ROYAL BANK of Scotland has decided to withdraw from the stakeholder pensions market after experiencing a "limited demand" for the products, reports the Scotsman.

EU REFORMS to pension schemes funding rules could increase occupational pension liabilities by at least £300bn, according to reports given to the Times newspaper.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL Party MP Alex Salmond told the House of Commons yesterday the Financial Services Authority's new solvency regime may act as a "poison pill" for mutually-owned assurers such as Standard Life, says the Scotsman .

THE DEPARTMENT for Work and Pensions proposals to shrink the £27bn savings gap with the introduction of compulsory pensions received a lukewarm response from the industry yesterday, writes the Scotsman .