Rise in men marrying Thai brides ‘behind foreign pensions increase’
Daily Telegraph

Taxpayers are funding state pensions for hundreds of thousands of people who live abroad and have never paid tax in this country, a minister has disclosed.
Daily Telegraph

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said there were 220,000 people living outside the UK who received some form of state pension based solely on their spouse’s British work history, at a cost of £410 million-a-year to the taxpayer.
Huffington Post

It is not fair to taxpayers that a growing number of people overseas can claim UK pensions even though they have “never put a penny” into the system or even been here, Pensions Minister Steve Webb said as he defended a proposed curb.
The Independent

“Pensions loophole lets 220,000 people living abroad claim a state pension despite NEVER having worked in the UK.”
Daily Mail

SHAME OF £410M OVERSEAS PENSIONS
Daily Star

Reading statements like these might lead you to think that the government was going to introduce legislation to stop foreign widows of expats receiving a pension based upon their deceased husband’s national insurance contributions.

You might also think that a large amount of money was being spent on these foreign widows.

The actual facts are:

1. The government is planning on preventing all spouses receiving a pension based upon their late partner’s contribution record, irrespective of whether they are British or foreign.
2. Britain currently spends more than 15 times as much money on such spouses living in Britain as it does on overseas spouses – many of whom will be British themselves (£6.3 billion as against £0.4 billion).

So, why does the Pensions Minister make such a fuss about the 220,000 widows and widowers living abroad? And why headline the £410 million cost? Here comes the easy part: the Conservative party is lead by narrow-minded, xenophobic bigots who cynically think that by playing the race card people won’t notice that they are planning on stealing the pensions of widows and widowers whatever their nationality and wherever they live.

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