Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Britain is working this Christmas: don't let scrooge Tories wreck it
One in three Tooting pensioners are benefiting from the pensioners' credit, typically by almost £60 a week.
I know that for many of the pensioners I represent in Tooting on low and middle incomes, the pensioners' credit can make all the difference at Christmas: it's an extra present for the grandkids, or the money for the little extras that make celebrations that bit more special.
It is also a real demonstration of the difference a Labour government makes. We pledged we'd tackle pensioner poverty and we are doing just that. £60 a week is a drop in the ocean for someone like Michael Howard's millionare Tory candidate from Chelsea, which is why, if the Conervatives are elected they'll scrap the pensioners' credit immediately - leaving millions worse off.
My priority is to assist those who need help the most unlike the Tories, who would lavish the money currently going to those on lower incomes instead on pensioner millionaires. That's the sort of reverse redistribution you can expect if the Tories win.
Labour believes in helping everyone, not just the poorest - and certainly not just the richest as the Tories want to do. In Tooting, Balham and Earlsfield, all 18,565 over-60s in the constituency have received the winter fuel allowance.
Remember the days when the miserly Tories insisted on some bizarre, complex formula where temperatures had to be below a certain level for so many days before the Government grudgingly doled-out a stingy £50 to help with the heating - and then only if you actively claimed it?
Thankfully, those days ended when Labour was elected in 1997 - but the Tories fought tooth and nail against us when we introduced universal winter fuel payments now worth up to £200 (for those between 60 and 79) or £300 (for those aged 80+) every year for everyone.
Or the days when the over-70s had to find the money for their TV license? Or scrape around to pay for dental and eye tests? Again, fees scrapped by the Labour Government, on top of year-on-year decent increases in the state pension.
In the coming election the choice will be clear: to keep Britain working, at Christmas and all year round, with Labour or let the Tories wreck it again.
Sadiq
Notes: There are 9,900 pensioner households in Tooting; of these 3,345 (34%) benefit from the pension credit. The average pension credit entitlement in Tooting is £57.58 (that compares to a UK average entitlement of around £40). There are 18,565 over-60s in Tooting - all of whom receive the Labour Government's winter fuel allowance.
I know that for many of the pensioners I represent in Tooting on low and middle incomes, the pensioners' credit can make all the difference at Christmas: it's an extra present for the grandkids, or the money for the little extras that make celebrations that bit more special.
It is also a real demonstration of the difference a Labour government makes. We pledged we'd tackle pensioner poverty and we are doing just that. £60 a week is a drop in the ocean for someone like Michael Howard's millionare Tory candidate from Chelsea, which is why, if the Conervatives are elected they'll scrap the pensioners' credit immediately - leaving millions worse off.
My priority is to assist those who need help the most unlike the Tories, who would lavish the money currently going to those on lower incomes instead on pensioner millionaires. That's the sort of reverse redistribution you can expect if the Tories win.
Labour believes in helping everyone, not just the poorest - and certainly not just the richest as the Tories want to do. In Tooting, Balham and Earlsfield, all 18,565 over-60s in the constituency have received the winter fuel allowance.
Remember the days when the miserly Tories insisted on some bizarre, complex formula where temperatures had to be below a certain level for so many days before the Government grudgingly doled-out a stingy £50 to help with the heating - and then only if you actively claimed it?
Thankfully, those days ended when Labour was elected in 1997 - but the Tories fought tooth and nail against us when we introduced universal winter fuel payments now worth up to £200 (for those between 60 and 79) or £300 (for those aged 80+) every year for everyone.
Or the days when the over-70s had to find the money for their TV license? Or scrape around to pay for dental and eye tests? Again, fees scrapped by the Labour Government, on top of year-on-year decent increases in the state pension.
In the coming election the choice will be clear: to keep Britain working, at Christmas and all year round, with Labour or let the Tories wreck it again.
Sadiq
Notes: There are 9,900 pensioner households in Tooting; of these 3,345 (34%) benefit from the pension credit. The average pension credit entitlement in Tooting is £57.58 (that compares to a UK average entitlement of around £40). There are 18,565 over-60s in Tooting - all of whom receive the Labour Government's winter fuel allowance.
