The media appears to be making a big ‘song and dance’ that the state pension is classed as a benefit but is taxed as income if the recipient has a private pension of any size, and that no other benefits are liable to this type of tax discrimination despite the fact that family benefits in some cases can be the equivalent of an earned income of £40,000 to £50,000.

One does wonder if UKIP could capture some of the (small c) conservative grey vote if the removal of the apparent discrimination was in their manifesto?

Barry Burton, Fareham.