Pensions time bomb still ticking...

摘要

Timing is, of course, everything in politics. So why, exactly, did John Prescott decide to drop controversial plans for a radical overhaul of local government pensions when he did... just days before the planned national strike on Wednesday 23 March? Ahead of the Easter holidays, and within touching distance of the critical deadlines for calling a general election on 5 May, the deputy prime minister suddenly acknowledged there had been a lack of consultation. For several months now, the battle lines over pensions have been drawn very sharply, and local government unions made it quite dear to anyone who was really listening that this time, it was both serious and personal.