Cameron promises welfare perks for pensioners
06/03/2015
David Cameron has promised to protect free bus passes, winter fuel payments, free TV licences and medicine related subsides for the old.
In a move to win over voters from one of the groups most likely to use their votes, Cameron made the move to court pensioners by offering these benefits to every pensioner, regardless of their wealth. Labour has said they will stop paying the winter fuel allowance to the richest 5% of pensioners if elected, while the Liberal Democrats, the partner in Cameron's coalition, has signalled it wants to end the same perk and axe free TV licences for wealthy pensioners. The two parties have said that getting rid of these perks will help save money, helping efforts to restrain a sizeable budget deficit.
In a speech given in the South of England, Cameron made these promises if he was re-elected as Prime Minister in the general election, which will take place on the 7th May this year. He said:
“I know some people don't like this. There are those who say it's an unnecessary luxury during a time of national financial difficulties. They're wrong,
"No one has put in as much as our elderly. Now it's our turn, our fundamental duty, to care for them."
Cameron has already promised to protect the system that guarantees the value of state pensions, and his government also launched the pension bonds. Critics of Cameron have accused him of blatant electioneering, and have said it would unnecessarily inflate government borrowing costs.
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