Chris Huhne Says Pensioners Deserve More Help from Country They Served (Eastleigh Liberal Democrats)

Eastleigh Liberal Democrats <enquiries@eastleighlibdems.org.uk>

Chris Huhne Says Pensioners Deserve More Help from Country They Served

March 15, 2005 5:59 PM

Chris Huhne Says Pensioners Deserve More Help from Country They Served

Hampshire MEP Chris Huhne today said that elderly people deserved more support in their old age from the country that they served, and called for a substantial rise in the pension and a package of other measures to end the "pensioner poverty time-bomb".

Mr Huhne, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Eastleigh at the general election, was speaking to the Eastleigh Southern Parishes older people's forum at a meeting to discuss the "Pensioners' manifesto" of the National Pensioners' Convention at the Royal British Legion, Station Road, Netley Abbey.

He said that no party had ever before proposed such an attractive package to help the elderly as the Liberal Democrats in this election.

"We will increase the pension for the over 75s by £100 a week, lifting pensioners out of means-testing and ensuring that the 2,000 people who do not claim pensioner credit in Eastleigh alone will get a rise as of right" said Mr Huhne. "Women will be entitled to this citizens' pension by virtue of their residence, not their stamp contribution. Too many people are falling through the net into poverty".

"We will accelerate diagnosis in the National Health Service to cut waiting lists, introduce free eye and dental checks, scrap the Council tax and replace it with a local income tax related to ability to pay, introduce free long term care for the elderly so that no-one will be forced to sell their home to pay for treatment, and we will ensure free off peak bus passes for all the retired.

Mr Huhne said that the proposals had been carefully costed and given the seal of approval by independent scrutineers such as the Institute of Fiscal Studies, and the increase in pension would be greater than that proposed by Labour or the Conservatives.

"In the NHS, elderly people are suffering because so many have to wait for a simple MRI scan, and they are not registered on waiting lists until they have it and have been diagnosed. We will end these hidden waiting lists. There should also be free prescriptions for those with long-term chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, who have to pay when those, say, with diabetes do not.

"On the replacement of council tax by local income tax, the average pensioner couple will be £438 a year better off. More than eight out of ten pensioners - all except the most well-off - will gain from more fairness in the way we raise local taxes.

"By contrast, Labour and Tory council tax revaluation will bring huge increases after the election particularly in areas like Eastleigh where property prices have risen by 209 per cent since April 1991 compared with a national average rise of 160 per cent" said Mr Huhne.