Kennedy focuses on female vote
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has promised the Lib Dems would offer women a better deal as he unveiled his party’s manifesto for women.
High on the pledge list were better pension arrangements and improved care arrangements – both for children and the elderly.
On pensions, Mr Kennedy said that Lib Dems would offer a ‘citizens’ pension’ which would be assessed on residency not on working years so that women would not suffer for years spent out of the workforce raising children.
The Lib Dems would offer new mothers an income guarantee equivalent to the minimum wage for the first six months after the birth of their first child, introduce free personal care for the elderly, extend free child care, abolish student fees and tackle unequal pay in the work place.
Speaking this morning, Mr Kennedy said: “There are areas of public policy which disadvantage women. Perhaps the most glaring of these is pensions. Two million pensioners in Britain currently live below the Government’s own poverty line – two-thirds of whom are women.”
These would all benefit from the citizens’ pension he said.
Jenny Willott, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Cardiff Central said that women would particularly benefit from plans to scrap tuition fees.
Ms Willott said: “Unequal pay makes student debt harder on women, with female graduates earning on average 15 per cent less than their male counterparts at the age of 24. Young women would particularly benefit from our policies to scrap top-up and tuition fees, which would make university affordable for everyone.”
The Liberal Democrats believe that the female vote will be crucial in the next general election as women are more likely to turn out than men, as well as being more likely to switch their vote between different parties.
