Lawmakers move to delay old-age allowance scheme

The row over the old-age allowance came to a head on Thursday afternoon, as opposition lawmakers sought to block its progress while the chief secretary offered them more time to discuss the controversial scheme.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the administration was asking for a special Finance Committee meeting to vote on the allowance plan next Tuesday. The committee was originally scheduled to discuss the plan and vote on its HK$3.1 billion funding request on Friday.

But Lam said there was no room to make any change to the proposal.

Shortly after Lam spoke, the Legislative Council’s welfare panel passed a motion asking the Finance Committee not to discuss the plan, as scheduled, on Friday.

The motion was raised by the Labour Party’s Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung and supported by pan-democrats. They insist the government must waive a means test for the new monthly allowance for those over 70 – or at least raise the asset cap – or they will defeat it.

Because the panel motion passed, chairman Chan Yuen-han must move a motion in Friday’s Finance Committee meeting, for the scheduled discussion of the allowance to be adjourned.