HOW cynical and underhanded can this New Labour government get? On September 1, the three per cent reduction in VAT on fuels comes into force. This was aimed at helping pensioners with their fuel bills, but, by the timing of its implementation, the effect will hardly be felt.

If the Government had delayed the reduction until mid-September, it would have been included in November's rate of inflation, which, as we all know, set the rise in pensions for the following April.

If the implementation had been delayed until mid-September, there would not have been a claw-back effect. A three per cent reduction in VAT will effectively reduce inflation, therefore reducing the rise in the pensions next April.

That is a shoddy trick to play on pensioners, which Labour Finance Secretary Dawn Primarolo admitted to, during the committee stages of the Finance Bill.

They are guilty of giving one hand and taking with the other, and it's pensioners who will suffer yet again.

JOHN D FARRER, Mallard Place, Oswaldtwistle.

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