It was canny of ministers to hire the two left-of-centre Huttons to deliver the obvious but highly sensitive conclusions over the future of public sector pay and pensions. The fact they attracted criticisms from both unions and employers, and from left and right, showed they must be doing something right. Lord Hutton's report on pensions last week was well trailed and drew predictable criticisms from unions even though there are those who would argue that a retirement age of 68 'over time' is still unaffordable.
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