THIS is the Tories' flagship policy

Ignore all the Lib/Lab chaff.

The Tory manifesto says (page 12) that a Conservative government will abolish the iniquitous legal compulsion to annuitise one's SIPP (accrued pension capital) at age 75.

This is a massive change which will relieve the stomach churning fears of older citizens - and their families. It is the long overdue righting of a grotesque injustice. This is a simple change which will cheer and benefit millions while harming and disadvantaging no-one.

No longer will the aged retired have to hand over to an insurance company all their hard earned pension-savings, accrued over a lifetime of work, in exchange for a low, fixed income which can never, in any circumstances, rise to cope with rising prices in an inflating economy.

It will liberate millions of retired people from the fear/curse of having to try to survive their advanced years, when their financial needs are increasing, on a dwindling (vs inflation) permanently-fixed income. It will reduce the need of the thrifty, when they become very old, for means-tested benefits when their annuity income falls to a scarily low level compared with prices.

It will mean that pension savers can leave their life savings in pension funds which can earn money in the markets and in shares (through SIPPS) thereby hedging against inflation and protecting their capital and income. This is a HUGE plus for people of or shortly to be of pension age. It should also cut the cost to the state of supporting the very old who will be better able to support themselves from their savings after a life-time of paying pension contributions. This is key to returning Britain to being a nation of savers instead of a nation on welfare. Excellent stuff. Labour will hate it. They will howl at the very idea. Think about it.

• Saving is to be rewarded
• the old will be able to remain independent of the state for as long as they want to
• state support for the old can reduce over time - anathema to Labour's dogma*
• the thrifty old will be able to pass some of their savings on to their children, grandchildren and charities
• the invested capital of millions of thrifty citizens will once more be available to fund industry and boost equities, thus increasing wealth in every sector
• capitalism's virtuous circle.

Well, sod Labour.

This measure alone, of all those in the Tory manifesto, signifies Conservativism at its best.

This is the restoration of sanity, realism and practicality, the liberation of the individual from state shackles, sound economics to the benefit of the macro economy in the medium and long term, honourable, family-orientated and just.

It is the opposition of Gordon Brown's and Labour's thinking about the role of state, the economy and the family and the citizen.