The chancellor’s Budget decision to give pensioners more control over their pension pot was a great example of how politicians should trust the electorate to make sensible decisions. Let’s have more of it

James Wates

Last week the chancellor took a step on the economic ascent to the UK’s future.

It wasn’t to do with the rarefied air of macro-economic policy; it was far more profound: the chancellor performed a simple act of trust. There were politics and statistical economics involved too, but at its heart was an act of faith: to give pensioners control over their own pension pots.

This philosophy, if widened, could have