The Manx government has to come to terms with how it is going to be fair to all generations.

Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas admitted the difficulty in the House of Keys this week -when he was asked what plans the government had to ensure ’intergenerational fairness’.

Last month Chief Minister Howard Quayle said there were painful choices to be made to address the pension deficit and deal with issues of the younger generation suffering a ’real terms’ reduction in income.

Mr Thomas said that he had instructed the economic affairs division of the Cabinet Office to carry out research to see how the issues affect the Isle of Man.

’Whether it be to do with public sector pensions’ generational fairness, whether it be to do with the state pension generational fairness, whether it be to do with looking at the funding of care and the funding of residential and nursing care aspects of it, whether it be to do with housing - all sorts of issues - we need to look at it in an intergenerational way,’ Mr Thomas said.

’We have got to come to terms with how we are going to tackle it.’

The issue was raised by Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey).

Commitment

He asked if the Manx Government was prepared to make a similar commitment to the UK House of Lords, which passed a motion saying intergenerational fairness should be a core part of policy.

Mr Thomas said that it was ’self-evident’ that intergenerational fairness was a core issue for the government.

Dr Alex Allinson (Ramsey) pointed out the plight of the younger generation in trying to get on to the housing ladder.

’One of the solutions to that might be to make sure that everyone who works pays into the National Insurance Fund, regardless of their age,’ he said.

Mr Thomas said that Mr Allinson’s suggestion was ’one possible, policy response’.

The minister said that he hoped to have a white paper out by next autumn which would be used as a basis for further debate.