IEA Communications Officer Reem Ibrahim has written in CapX discussing how the UK’s planning and welfare policies have caused lopsided intergenerational inequality.

Reem wrote:

“My generation is set to be the first in 100 years to be poorer than our parents, yet we have a political system that funnels money into the hands of the old. The most obvious, and perhaps most egregious manifestation of this is the triple lock on pensions.

“Spending on pensions is expected to balloon to £135bn by 2025 as a result of the triple lock – that’s more than the day-to-day budgets for the Department for Education, the Home Office, and the Ministry of Defence combined. And this astronomical amount of money is being funded by us – young people who are contributing to the labour market.

“Generally speaking, older generations have benefited from a political economy that has privileged their interests across a range of policy areas. Britain’s burdensome planning system has put the promise of home ownership out of reach for young people and of course, thanks to the triple lock, older people can expect their pensions to rise each year either by 2.5%, average wage growth, or inflation. Whichever is highest.”

Read Reem’s full piece here.

Reem also chaired a panel on intergenerational inequality as part of the IEA’s ThinkTent program at Conservative Party Conference. Watch the full discussion here.