Howard promises older people respect
Conservative leader Michael Howard today pledged to “respect and protect” UK pensioners, who he claimed had been “airbrushed” out of New Labour’s vision of Britain.
Launching the Conservatives’ pensions manifesto, Mr Howard said: “I believe that people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in their retirement.
“But in Britain today too many pensioners are not shown the respect they deserve or given the dignity that is their due.”
The manifesto reiterates pledges to increase the basic state pension in line with earnings, halve the council tax bills of the over-65s, reverse the spread of means-testing and ensure no-one had to sell their home to pay for long-term care.
It also assures pensioners that “no-one will lose out” as the Conservatives would retain the pensions credit and special grants such as the winter fuel payment.
In his speech Mr Howard attacked means-testing, saying it was “humiliating” and “wrong”.
He added: “It penalises people for doing the right thing – saving for their retirement. It sends a clear signal to the younger generation: ‘Don’t bother to save. Spend whatever you can before you retire, because your future is one of dependency on the State.'”
The older generation did not feature in Tony Blair’s ‘New Britain’, the Conservative leader said, accusing the Prime Minister of extending means-testing, raiding pension funds, and hitting pensioners on fixed incomes with higher council taxes.
“New Labour’s Britain is a young country, a country where the older generation has been airbrushed out,” he added.
Mr Howard said respect for others, for the law and for property were “the bedrock of our society”. Older people understood that – and they understood Britain was not in a “moral quagmire” caused by the Government’s failure to distinguish between right and wrong, he added.
The Conservatives would fight that decline on several fronts, including restoring discipline in schools, cracking down on yobs so that elderly people felt safe on the streets, and reminding citizens of the importance of personal responsibility.
He said: “I want to live in a society where it’s muggers and burglars – not pensioners – who look over their shoulder as they walk down the street.”
Addressing fears that past Conservative policies had not helped the elderly, he added: “We’ve learnt from our mistakes. That’s why we’ll only promise what we know we can deliver.”
