Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to retain universal benefits for all pensioners, regardless of their income, if his party wins the next general election to be held in May.
During the last election campaign of 2010, Cameron vowed that bus passes, winter fuel allowances and free television licences would continue to be issued to all pensioners. In a recent speech, he repeated that pledge, saying that there was ‘no question’ of means testing being introduced and that the commitment he made in 2010 will stand for as long as he is prime minister.
The Liberal Democrats and the Labour party have both announced that they will limit some of the benefits very well off pensioners can claim, should they win enough seats to form the next government. Universal benefits for pensioners also include free prescriptions and eye tests.
Pensioner benefits cost the taxpayer around £3 billion every year. Norman Smith, assistant political editor with the BBC, said that Cameron’s promise follows the recent announcement made by Chancellor George Osborne, that pensioner bonds were to be extended. Smith suggested that the Conservatives are targeting the older voter deliberately because they are more likely than younger people to vote in the general election.
Labour MP, Rachel Reeves, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said that far from championing the pensioner, Cameron has let them down by failing to do anything about high fuel costs and ‘rip off’ pension charges during this parliament. The Labour party, she said, will stop winter fuel payments for the wealthiest five per cent of pensioners and reverse the tax cut for millionaires, recently brought in by the coalition government.
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