Hutton set to chair new pensions commission

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Update: John Prescott has attacked Hutton on his blog as another “ConLibLab collaborator”, saying:

“Now we have the unedifying spectacle of John Hutton, Labour’s former Work and Pensions minister, chairing a new Independent Pensions Commission with the obvious aim to dismantle state pensions.”

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Speaking to Andrew Marr this morning, the Chancellor announced that former Labour minister John Hutton will chair a new commission, looking into public sector pensions and reporting back to the government on early measures as soon as September. Osborne said:

“The public sector pension bill is unsustainable, and the Office for Budget Responsibility, this independent office which we’ve created, has shown this, and we do have to tackle it. But again I want to do this in a way which everyone feels that they’ve had a chance to contribute, that they’ve had their say, so we’re going to be establishing an independent pensions commission.”

“Now that independent pensions commission is going to be chaired by John Hutton, the former Labour work and pensions secretary, the former defence secretary. He is a man with real intelligence and knowledge in this area, I think he’s going to bring a cross-party perspective to what is a national problem, and means this is not going to be done on a partisan basis.”

It remains to be seen whether or not Hutton, as a former colleague of four of the leadership candidates, will draw similar fire to that drawn by Frank Field for working with the Tories.