The principle of parliamentary democracy is simple. The party with the most seats governs until it loses the confidence of MPs or is booted out at an election.
However, government should not be an elective dictatorship that unilaterally imposes its policies but should road test them in parliamentary scrutiny and negotiate their implementation with those affected.
The constitutional water is deeply muddied because the two parts of the coalition were daggers drawn on economic policy before the election, the Tories failed to win a majority and they lack a solid mandate.
They have reluctantly retreated on many important policies but now seem tempted to crack the whip on lower paid workers after handling the bankers with kid gloves.
The pensions issue is, therefore, seen as another unfair burden on hard working people who maintain our vital public services. Their pensions have been targeted before. Royal Mail, for instance, paid nothing into staff pensions from 1988 to 2001.
However, there is a long-term policy issue at stake. I wrote here recently that our rapidly ageing society has prompted successive governments to embrace equal retirement ages for men and women and to increase everyone's retirement age. The aim is to make sure that enough people are creating wealth and paying taxes to support children and pensioners.
Yet the current government has accelerated the timetable for raising and equalising retirement ages which makes it harder for many thousands of women in particular to plan their finances. People must pay more in contributions, work longer and receive less.
Ministers wrongly claimed that a report from former Labour Pensions Secretary Lord Hutton says that public pensions are unaffordable. They ignored its advice to wait for better times before changing pensions policy.
So Ministers found a wicked wheeze in trying the old divide and rule tactic between public sector and private sector workers.
But public sector pensions are pretty low. They are lower if they exist at all in the private sector, although fat cats look after themselves generously. Ministers seem to suggest a race to the bottom, as part of their aggressive austerity package, rather than improving everyone's pensions?
But private sector and public sector workers don't live in separate silos and all are worried about how they will make ends meet when they retire and in the absence of jobs beforehand.
They all know that the economy is poorly and that there will be pain in reviving it. However, it is simply ridiculous to merely blame Labour, which was forced to bail out the banks and which made some mistakes of its own on the way.
People also realise, I think, that this government's other mantra - that we are all in it together - is false. If that were true we would join other governments of the left and right in a concerted drive to tax the transactions of speculators and banks which could raise billions. We would also target the many billions lost through evasion and avoidance.
This argument about fair taxes is central for the sake of equity but also because when government seeks to transform people's working conditions, albeit in response to deep demographic changes, they also need to soften the transition. This requires funds, of course.
Pensions are about saving for a rainy day. The trouble is that it's raining cats and dogs and the Tories are stealing the umbrellas.
So I am with the unions in urging the government to negotiate change rather than display stubborn indifference to the reasonable interests of millions, who need greater unity between private and public sector workers. The case for such solidarity and community will be made with its usual flair at this week's Miners' Gala in Durham.
Ultimately, the best way to proceed is through a general election so there can be an honest discussion and clarity about all these policy dilemmas through electing a government with a proper mandate.
Newcastle Chronicle and Journal
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