Expats & Brexit

With continued debate on the possibility of the UK withdrawing from the EU (known as brexit) here are a few thoughts on the ramifications on the effect of expat state pensioners and their dependents living in the EU... and how the UK could be "biting it's nose off to spite it's face".

The big UKIP-driven debate about immigrants "coming over here, stealing our jobs and taking our benefits" (a juxtaposition if ever I heard one!) is certainly causing the Tory element of the coalition to panic like a herd of gazelle into an abyss... and at no point has anyone at the top of government paid consideration to the 2+ million British expats residing in other EU countries.

So instead of worrying about "Johnny Foreigner" let's take a reasoned look at the effects of a brexit on your granddads and grannies... who may well be looking to take up resident in your spare bedroom after 2017!

Currently, expat British state pensioners and their dependents are entitled to receive their state pension (NOT a welfare benefit¹) and "exportable" benefits if they have a sufficient link to the UK. The DWP do not actually provide their calculations for the sufficient link eligibility, but those that have the right to receive a state pension due to reaching the qualifying years of national insurance payments (nowadays only a mere 30 qualifying years) are generally deemed eligible... a seemingly one-sided criteria given that the children of migrants living outside the UK are currently entitled to receive Child Benefit, but I will not go down the route of that argument here.

The main exportable benefits received by OAP British expats in the EU are DLA (care component only, not mobility²) or Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance.

Before any critics jump on this bandwagon and correct me on this, I know that there are limited additional benefits that can be claimed by work-age expats, i.e. JSA for the first 6 months you are abroad and seeking work, but this article is dealing specifically with OAPs who have been living in the EU for several years and their dependents who will no longer be eligible for any short-term UK benefits.

As has been widely reported, Winter Fuel Payments for OAP expats are being removed in 2015 (legislation due to conveniently occur just BEFORE the General Election) from a selection of EU countries³, based on annual average temperatures. However, it should be noted, particularly by those UKIP supporters gleefully clapping their hands at this news in the UK, that due to the manipulation of temperature statistics by the DWP, while OAP expats in "hot" France will lose their WFP, the Tories have ensured – for reasons known only to IDS – that those in "cold" Italy will retain the payment!

And, as an aside, for anyone interested in the workings of the EU and “benefits”, the European Commission has decreed that WFP is part of an OAP's state pension and, as such, it is illegal to remove this element from being paid. Needless to say, if the Tories regain power and this legislation remains in place, and the UK population vote to stay IN the EU, then this will be subject to a legal challenge that will be dragged for years through the European Court of Justice, at a substantial cost to the taxpayer that will probably outweigh the cost of actually paying it.

To give an idea of how the UK government likes to decry the ECJ and then use it for its own twisted means against its disabled citizens, for example, just Google ECJ cases C-299/05 and C-537/09. The latter is a wonderful wake-up call for those who think Cameron's crocodile tears for his son are real. He really does not give a flying f*ck about the disabled.

Anyway, let's move on to healthcare and the NHS – a big talking point at the time of writing this blog, as Gideon has announced a £2bn boost to the ailing UK service. Unlike the UK, most other EU countries do not provide services "free at the point of delivery", so along with the indigenous populations, even UK state pensioners are obliged to have some form of private insurance as the reciprocal agreements within the EU do not cover 100% of the costs.

For example, in France, payments for GP and specialist visits are made upfront: €23 for a GP visit, €44 (average) for a specialist. Hospital stays will be invoiced for payment by cheque/card or be covered by insurance. Prescription charges must also be covered otherwise payment is required.

Thinking about this, it might make those living in Britain a bit more mindful about making appointments that they then fail to attend if the UK adopted this policy. But given that the UK does not even charge other EU migrants to access NHS services, could this be seen as another failed opportunity that has been perpetuated by consecutive UK governments?

OK, Cameron & Co are now talking the talk about ensuring NHS charges are made by “foreigners” and that benefit entitlements are tightened up, but this smacks of closing the gate after the horse has bolted... particularly as the benefit changes being proposed are already de rigour in some EU countries in that you do not get anything out of the system without first paying a hefty amount in!

Anyway, in the event of Britain leaving the EU and repatriating "foreigners", there is no reason why the British expat's host country cannot do the same. Even if there is no tit-for-tat reprisals, there is no doubt in the current climate, that the UK government will seek to punish expats who remain abroad by freezing state pensions, as they do already for those in Canada, Australia etc, and removing their rights to exportable benefits, which are currently protected under EU law.

If this is the case, then many of those living on a basic state pension will find themselves forced to return to the UK, so let's have a look at what could entail:

Firstly, it should be noted that back in the days of the Colonial Empire – those days currently being sought to be relived by our UKIP pals – the British expatriate was, no doubt, a moneyed individual with no reliance on state assistance. The stereotypical expat, foisted upon a naïve UK population by the likes of the Daily Mail and Daily Express, is one who sits around a pool all day, in brilliant sunshine, quaffing champagne. Sadly, my friends, those expats are a rare breed and for those dinosaurs that still exist, they most certainly will not be worrying about what is going on back in the homeland.

Instead many of the expat communities, those living particularly in Spain, France and Portugal, are of the post-war (baby boomer) generation of hard grafters who had the opportunity to buy their council properties in the UK while working. Then, when it was time to put their feet up, having paid into the NI system for a minimum of 44 years to get their pittance of a State Pension (and for those fortunate enough, a small public or private pension), took the chance to cash in the fruits of their labour and buy a retirement flat, finca or derelict farmhouse in foreign climes.

Following the global crash and like many ordinary folk in Blighty, many of these expats have seen their retirement abodes become worthless and their state pension reduce by a weakened pound (and in my opinion an artificially inflated euro!). Belt-tightening has been the order of the day, just like everyone else.

At this point, I also need to point out – having been confronted on the issue of expats being able to sell up and bring their “fortune” back home to Blighty and invest in the housing market there – that some expats left rented property in the UK to rent in their host country, and therefore have no “assets” to sell up in the event of a return... so one can only hope that the UK government has the necessary resources in place to house these OAPs, particularly if adapted properties are needed!

Either way, as I write this, it would appear that a return to the UK is seeming more attractive. After all, OAP expats would find themselves entitled to receive the following, thank you very much:

State Pension

Pension Credit

Winter Fuel Payment

Cold Weather Payments

Housing Benefit

Council Tax reduction

DLA Care & Mobility components

Attendance Allowance

Carers Allowance

Free NHS healthcare

Free prescriptions

While any work-age dependents may be able to additionally claim:

JSA

Income support

Incapacity benefit/ESA

Mmm... now this is increasingly becoming very interesting isn't it?

Maybe this brexit thing won't be too bad, eh, for us old muppets if we troop back to Blighty?

All those extra benefits that we currently waiver in favour of our expat “lifestyle”, which in many cases is nothing different from the “lifestyle” we'd be living back home.

Makes you think, doesn't it? Grass, greener, other side of the fence... and such.

Oh, but wait? If the UK throws out the working EU migrants who are currently paying into the system that allows continued payments of State Pension to us and, hopefully, the generations coming along behind, where exactly does that leave us all?

Time to step back from the brexit precipice and reflect, maybe?

1. State Pension: it is a grotesque effrontery to common-sense that IDS and Gideon have bundled the State Pension into the benefit/welfare pot, as those in receipt of SP have earned the right to receive this money after years of national insurance contributions.

2. DLA Mobility component: it should be noted that if anyone living in the UK with restricted mobility, or even wheelchair-bound, is thinking of moving to another EU country, that following a long drawn out legal case through the European Court of Justice using taxpayers money, the UK Government (Labour and then the current coalition) decreed that DLA Mobility is NOT an exportable benefit (ECJ case C-537/09). So presumably you can arise like Lazarus and throw away your mobility aids the minute you leave Blighty's shores!

3. Winter fuel payments will no longer be available to OAP expats living in: Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain. Note that Italy is not excluded and expats there will continue to receive WFP. To ensure that expats in France have their WFP removed from 2015, IDS and the DWP included France's 5 overseas tropical departments in the provided dataset – Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, and French Guiana – where only 30 retired Brits live, but this allows denial of WFP to those living in the colder climes of mainland France where temperatures in the winter fall to MINUS 15 degrees celcius! If IDS can do it there he can do it in the UK, so Cornwall, Devon and Dorset beware!

Scottish referendum: Message from Sir Roger Gale MP

Folks in far-flung places and those closer to home,

If you have family or friends or contacts who are eligible to vote in Scotland next week would you be kind enough to impress upon them the importance of the “No” vote to maintain the Union.

At the Battle Of Britain dinner in the House last night the point was made that it was at this time of year that so many of our young airmen gave their lives in the defence of the United Kingdom. The break-up of the Union would have disastrous consequences not just for Scotland but for the whole future of what most of us have worked all our lives for and hold dear. That, of course, will embrace not only domestic but overseas interests as well.

We are making considerable progress over the right of Britons resident overseas to vote (and if you are eligible but have not yet registered please do so) and there are even some glimmerings – although I would not wish to overstate the case – of light on the pensions uprating front. We shall be stronger together.

This is a crucial moment in our Island`s history and we really do need to muster all of the support available.

With very best wishes

Roger

Not that stupid, Dave

Conservative party chairman Grant Shapp's announcement yesterday raised a wry eyebrow, but definitely not a smile, in our household. Well used to seeing the party politicking on every media outlet before any relevant vote - in this case the 2015 General Election - like many expats I am too long in the tooth to take much notice of any of the promises being made in order to gain my vote. Naturally, this story has already prompted the inevitable raft of comments on social media spewing out the same old rhetoric... "they've abandoned the UK, why should they have a say?" being the most repeated. And were it not for the fact that I have been an expat for the past eight years, I confess that I would probably be asking the same question. 

Instead, I can answer that question quite plainly: many expats continue to pay taxes and NI contributions to the UK, or have a "sufficient link" (UK Gov speak!) by way of receipt of State Pension. But after 15 years, despite the Treasury still collecting these funds, the British expat is totally cut off from having any say in the governmental issues of their homeland.

This is in complete opposition to most (but admittedly not all) other European countries, i.e. France who provides voting facilities in the UK for their nationals living and working there. Even those countries further afield, i.e. the USA, have a voting provision for their expats living in the UK. And no, British expats living in other EU countries do not have the right to vote in the general elections of their residential country!

Also, for the 3.3 million vote-eligible British expats worldwide, the UK system is deliberately complicated and antiquated - something that ensures that only a few thousand die-hards are ever registered to vote. It would seem, however, that there is change in the air, with some recent improvements made for registering online and the Electoral Commission, led by HoC Speaker John Bercow, seeking for an electronic, online system that could not only appeal to British expats around the world, but possibly engage younger voters in the UK.


However, even after explaining this to some, the argument still rings out that expats have cut their ties with their homeland. On the contrary, most expats maintain a very close-knit relationship with their homeland through strong family bonds, regular visits and financial ties.

Something that it is difficult for many UK residents to recognise, is that being an expat is no longer the exclusive domain of the rich. Any one of you reading this could become an expat. We are expats. We live less than an hour from the UK. We do not live in a chateau. We have not been blessed with a Lottery win (yet!). It was simply something we chose to do after 40 years of hard graft and dues paid. Time for a quiet life. Oh how we wish. Instead we are the minority group that, if targeted in such a fashion in the UK, would see the headlines screaming out accusations of us being the victims of discrimination, racism, sexism... you name it. But no, we are expats... turncoats of the worse kind (*irony*).

Anyway, that is our life example, but many British citizens of a younger, working age may head off for a few years, then return to retire back in the UK - but will be disenfranchised as a voter if their career keeps them away for over 15 years. Pensioners, who have retired for a quiet life in another European country, receive their State Pensions - and there are some green-eyed monsters living in the UK that say even this is wrong. That if you do not live in the UK, you should have no right to a State Pension. So should we do that to all the OAPs who have left their county's of birth or work and headed to Cornwall for their retirement?

Even those expats not quite old enough to draw pensions continue to pay their dibs to the UK Treasury coffers, in the form of National Insurance Contributions. After all, British expats have no right to draw a pension in their country of residence if they have never worked there. Would you agree to immigrants arriving straight off the boat and claiming a British State Pension? No, of course not. So we do not expect the French/Spanish/Italian/etc governments to supplement ours.

Then there are those British citizens who have spent their working lives serving the British public, in our schools, hospitals, emergency services and Armed Forces, who receive their pensions, as rightly so for the contributions made. These pensions, unlike the State Pension, are only taxable in the UK. For that THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE.

So, many expats have paid into the UK coffers all their working lives, some continue to pay NI contributions, others are still liable for Income Tax on their public pensions... and after 15 years... NO VOTE, NO VOICE, NO REPRESENTATION

So, if you have got to this point and are asking why I am denigrating the Conservative party's offer to lift this restriction, I will tell you why (hold onto your hats):

Firstly, I believe that David Cameron is only making this proviso to garner the votes of existing eligible expats (like us - still eligible to vote in General Elections until 2021) to get his party into power next year. As we all know, politicians will say ANYTHING to get a vote... note, Clegg and the tuition fee debacle. And why wait until after the May 2015 election? Why not now? The Lib Dems have already made this promise and, in all likelihood, even some Labour MPs would support the cause.

Secondly, the same political party offering this to expats have already announced their intention to remove the right of British expat pensioners living in the EU to receive the Winter Fuel Payment from 2015... after they sweep to power on our proposed votes! This is despite Cameron's 2010 pledge that his party would never take away this benefit from State Pensioners (and he did not specify only UK SPs!). Okay, another contentious issue that many will decry with "but they all live in the sunshine, they don't need money for heating" - an argument backed up every year with a particularly spiteful and malicious Mac cartoon depicting rich expats using their payment for stocking up their booze supply. Oh how I wish that were true.

Yes, the Mediterranean countries do have temperate winters, I am not going to argue with anyone on that matter. But what I have taken extreme exception to is Iain Duncan Smith's skewed and deliberately manipulated average annual temperature dataset, whereby he claims that France is HOTTER than Italy... is intending to retain the winter fuel payment for expats in Italy... and used a particularly sleekit (Scottish word meaning sly, crafty) method of comparing said annual average temperatures with the south-west of England (the thermometer, excuse the pun, for deciding who is eligible to receive WFP) - by including the French overseas departments (DOMS)... all based in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean where only a handful of OAP British expats live!

Thirdly, and I am going back in time a bit here, so bear with me. In 1992 the then-Conservative government, in conjunction with complying with EU social security rules, had to decide which UK-based benefits could be exportable if eligible British citizens moved to live in another EU country under Freedom of Movement. They chose to place Disability Living Allowance - care and mobility elements - along with Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance in the "basket" as non-exportable. Now I am not going to bore anyone with the legal ramifications, but after a protracted, expensive (to the UK tax payer) legal case, the European Court of Justice decided, in 2007, that DLA (care element only), AA and CA WERE EXPORTABLE and should be paid to any eligible British citizen who had had those benefits removed when moving to another EU country.

However, even today the UK Government is still spending tax payers money (and remember, expats are tax payers too) in its attempts not to reimburse owed monies to some eligible claimants. The UK Government (under Labour in it's dying days of 2010) did finally accept the European Court of Justice ruling, but the current coalition government continues to procrastinate - and defend at great cost - certain legal challenges, including, in 2011, that of maintaining the DLA mobility element as non-exportable by taking the case successfully to the European Court of Justice again, using tax payers money.

So presumably (and, yes I am being sarcastic here) any disabled, wheelchair-bound British citizen, will be able to throw away their wheels and walk the minute they land on the shores of another EU country. I don't think so, Mr Cameron. And I don't think, despite your own family sufferings, that you have ANY idea of the difficulties of living with disability if you can allow IDS to be so ferocious in his attack on that particular group of people, both at home and abroad. Oh but wait, it's okay to send all that Child Benefit out of the country to children who have never lived in the UK and whose parents have barely made a fingernail dent in the contributions they have paid into your coffers!

Finally - yes, you can breath a sigh of relief now - in the HoC debate on the EU in/out referendum, support was given to the British expat by several MPs, including Mike Gapes, Labour, Ilford South, who proposed an amendment for British expats to be allowed to vote in the proposed 2017 referendum. After all, a withdrawal from the EU will affect us all. Mr. Gapes' amendments were not called to a division. So, unlike our counterparts living in the "UK State" of Gibraltar, no vote for the EU-resident British expat in a referendum that could see the withdrawal of our rights to healthcare, frozen State Pensions, requirements for residential permits, no right to exportable benefits, non-acceptance of educational and professional qualifications... the list goes on.

There is no doubt the Conservatives are terrified of the UKIP momentum and are seeking any way they can to ensure that the removal van is not needed at Number 10 in May 2015.  

USING EXPATS AS A POLITICAL PAWN IS NOT ONLY CYNICAL, IT IS DOWNRIGHT OFFENSIVE.

UKIP want to raise the UK drawbridge. If the Conservatives continue to play their nasty game, they'd better be prepared to roll out a red carpet across that drawbridge and welcome their expats home. I just hope that their plans include the necessary funding for housing, benefits, NHS facilities, etc, for our return.


Links:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/11068438/Tories-pledge-to-give-vote-back-to-all-expats.html
http://uklibdems.eu/en/article/2013/684052/we-want-our-votes-back
http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=5217
http://www.connexionfrance.com/expat-wins-care-benefit-appeal-10343-news-article.html
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/2013/11/european-inout-referendum-gibraltar-in-the-rest-of-us-out.html

Referendums & the disenfranchised expat

With less than three weeks to go before Scotland makes its referendum decision on whether to split from the rest of the UK, there continues to be a lot of rhetoric, spin and, quite frankly, downright lies relating to how things will be in a post referendum "Yes" society.

Of course, the exact same pedalling of dodgy arguments and scaremongering (but hopefully not the thuggish threats) is to be expected if Cameron gets his wish for an in/out referendum on the divisive issue of membership of the EU in 2017.

But in amongst all this argy bargy, to-ing and fro-ing of debate and argument, the one group of British citizens that are going be most affected by "Yes" and "out" wins from these referendums is the expat currently living another EU country, thanks to the rights of freedom of movement.

So what if Scotland leaves the UK and/or the UK leaves the EU? What difference would it make?

Well I'm not going to argue the ins and outs of the Scottish/EU membership issue here. Anyone who wants to know how that particular piece of legislation works needs only to read the article:

Independent Scotland will have a long way to go for EU status, European Parliament policy adviser @Ben_Acheson blogs http://t.co/zifhH0cV4I

Instead it is worth considering the effects on those currently living in the EU and how easy it will be to deny the opportunities of those who might wish to broaden their horizons by coming to work and/or retire in another Member State. For example:

As non-EU citizens do not have the automatic right to live and work in EU countries, as "foreigners" Scottish/UK citizens would need to apply for fixed term residential permits.

Scottish/UK state pensioners would no longer have the automatic right to use  healthcare systems in EU countries using the S1 form.

They could also have their State Pension frozen, as is currently applicable to SPs living outside the EU.

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) would longer be valid for Scottish/UK citizens traveling within the EU.

UK "exportable" benefits, such as Disability Living Allowance (care element, not mobility proportion as that already prohibited under EU law) would not permissible.

UK educational and professional qualifications may not be accepted by countries within the EU, as EU mutual recognition rules would longer apply.

Naturally, I will presume that some readers will immediately jump on the stereotypical expat bandwagon and point out how we have "abandoned" our homeland to partake in supping sangria in the sun.

So this point I would like you to take a step back.

Reflect on how you would feel today if you were told by your government that they will continue to take your taxes and NI contributions... but you will have ABSOLUTELY NO SAY WHATSOEVER in a referendum that will affect the rest of your life. Or, indeed, after 15 years, no voting rights at all.

Or that you are in your twilight years, having worked and paid your contributions for over 40 years, retired on a basic State Pension to a small apartment/cottage in a quiet corner of another EU country, subsidising your medical costs (as unlike UK medical care is not FREE at the point of delivery) and living frugally during these times of austerity... and you then find all your rights have been taken away, with no available facility make your voice heard.

No vote, no voice, no representation... just pay your dues, thank you.

Welcome to the world of the British expat.

The solution?

Better think about getting that welcome mat out at the White Cliffs of Dover...

Referendums and all that (p2)

I must admit to having got a bit sweary on Twitter as I watched the Salmond vs Darling debate last night. Not because I have a vote in the Scottish Independence referendum and have yet to decide on my position, or am about to put a cross on the voting paper. Like many expats, we are disenfranchised from taking part in such referendums... even if they might have a direct effect on our lives.

Instead my blasphemous outbursts were all down to my assertion and belief that Mr Salmond is a blatant liar and, like many dictators that have come and gone, is fooling many people into believing those lies.

Psychology is a powerful weapon and there is no doubt in my mind that Mr Salmond and his SNP cronies have been well trained in the dark arts of psychological persuasion, revealed in his creation of a social need for independence and his persistent use loaded words and phrases that plays to those needs.

And like this those participants in social influence experiments, such as the Milgram Obediance Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment, many "Yes" voters have been swept away on the tide of SNP rhetoric and truly believe everything that is told them... even if those "truths" are merely told to ensure containing obedience and support for their leaders.

You only have to look at the #indyref threads on Twitter to see the vitriol emanating from both sides the debate - many with no sensible argument other than a "he said, she said" mentality and a vague literary command of what can seen as a "debate". At this lower end of the scale, such threads seem to be based on nothing more than who can insult their opposing number the most amount times before the inevitable "block" is put in place.

Conversely, when educated, intelligent tweeters use the platform, in an attempt to discuss the pros and cons of either side, they are all too often "shouted" down by ways of abuse, threats and harassment by those aforementioned types, are unable to argue their way out of a paper bag...

And presumably all eligible parties involved in these social media conversations will be heading to their polling booths on 18 September, as a true democracy allows, to cast a vote that could radically change not only their day-to-day lives, but those of future generations... with many making their choice on the basis of a lie.

And if that isn't enough to make a saint swear...

Referendums and all that...

As the likes of Sky News goes into overdrive now that Scotland enters its 100 day countdown to its referendum on independence it is worth pointing out that Salmond & Co's authoritarian attitude in their all consuming efforts to "win the day" is comparable to that of Cameron and Farage's attempts to promote a UK exit from the EU in the near future, without consideration to the adverse effects it will have on some citizens.

I'm not saying that the people shouldn't have a choice. On the contrary, true democracies should give ALL citizens their opportunity to voice - and vote on - anything that affects their lives.

And this is where all political parties concerning themselves with referendums and choices are getting it so wrong... and failing citizens whose lives will be intrinsically altered (and not necessarily for the better) if results of these votes successfully play into the hands of the instigators.

The citizens I am, of course, referring to are those people who no longer live in their countries of birth, but are still fully tied to them, especially by way of taxes and state pensions.

Neither the Scottish independence referendum, or proposed in/out EU referendum, allow their expats to vote and no politician at the top of the tree (and believe me, I've contacted them all) are prepared to discuss the ramifications of "yes" and "out" wins on the pensioner expat community.

Naturally when raising this issue in any forum it will provoke the usual anti-expat rhetoric, mostly from the green eyed monsters who think all expats live in chateaus, quaff champagne all day and have an bottomless pit of money.

But in reality most pensioner expats, particularly those living in the EU, are living on basic state pensions (with some receiving modest public servant pensions on which they will always continue to pay UK tax) and do not meet the stereotype as previously described in any way, shape or form. In fact, since the financial "bust" British pensioners in the EU have seen a 20% reduction in state pension income.

What these politicians are doing in their refusal to even acknowledge the British expat in regard to these referendums is hiding from the British public the issues that would come to light if these expat pensioners were to all come home... an even more overstretched NHS, increased requirement for social sheltered housing, more demand for local government care services, increase of the winter fuel payment budget (the Conservatives are planning removal from EU-based pensioners from 2015 to save alleged £30m per year), increase of benefits budget for those allowances not currently received outside of UK (in particular, pension credit).

So why not ask your local MP what their party's contingency plan is for returning expats before you put that cross on the voting ballot form... I'll be interested to hear their views.

DWP Winter Fuel Payment duplicity... a tangled web indeed...

Originally published in January 2014.

First post of 2014 and I am taking the liberty of "borrowing" an editorial comment by Connexion France (www.connexionfrance.com) in respect to the duplicity of the Department of Work and Pensions in its decision to remove Winter Fuel Payment from British pensioner expats living in France. The article to which the editorial comment refers is also attached as a scanned document. I do not think I need to add anything else!

A tangled web

If it weren't is so important to so many people, the saga of the UK government's search to justify withdrawing winter fuel allowance from British citizens residents in France would be hilarious. The ever more complex knots in which ministers and civil servants tie themselves in the hope of persuading someone - anyone? - that their figures make any kind of sense demonstrate Sir Walter Scott's dictum on tangled webs created when " we practice to deceive".

The government is not interested in justifications, except for trying to bat away the demands of tiresome people like The Connexion team. All they care about is imposing their mean-spirited little scheme and to hell with the victims. It illustrates a growing and alarming dictatorial tendency of ministers. Small wonder so many Tory MP's would like to cast off EU rules; better yet to return to the golden days of the divine right of Kings, and send objectors to the Tower.

Dissent can annoy governments but most democratic regimes accept it as a legitimate expression of differing views. High-handed government must watch out: acceptance of dissent can be cut as easily as Winter Fuel Allowance.