Cabinet spat erupts over calls to let young people raid their pensions to buy a home
A BITTER Cabinet row erupted on Monday after a Minister called for young people to be allowed to raid their pensions to buy a home.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said the next Government must “trust the individual to make the choice for themselves”.
But the Department of Work and Pensions complained to No10 – saying it hadn’t been approved by its Secretary of State, Amber Rudd.
Sources close to Ms Rudd claimed they also couldn’t support the plan was it would be “risky” and “doesn’t help the people it intends to help”.
They added they had already warned Mr Brokenshire – a fierce Theresa May loyalist - about their opposition.
Ex-Chancellor George Osborne reformed pension rules in the Coalition so that over 55s could access their pension savings.
Mr Brokenshire went further by saying Brits should be able to use part of their pension pot as a deposit on a first-time home purchase.
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Mr Stewart, who last month became International Development Secretary, went on to say that the naughtiest thing he’d ever done was sit on his mum’s cactus.
He told host Nick Ferrari: “She spent the next hour picking prickles out of my bum.”
He said: “It is, after all, their money. Not the fund’s, not the state’s, it’s yours and the next Conservative Government should free that capital up, and trust the individual to make the choice for themselves.”
Allies of the Communities Secretary last night insisted he was purely presenting an idea as part of the leadership race – and not as a formal policy.
A spokesman said: “James Brokenshire’s idea is quite simply about economic freedom.”
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