Teh One Who Knocks
02-23-2015, 01:20 PM
Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Ruth Pitchford
http://i.imgur.com/uueEHB3.jpg
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron will promise Britain's pensioners on Monday that they can keep a range of welfare perks if he is re-elected on May 7, seeking to shore up support from one of the groups most likely to use their votes.
In a speech in southern England, Cameron, whose Conservatives are level in many polls with the opposition Labour Party, will pledge to protect free bus passes, winter fuel payments, free TV licences and medicine-related subsidies for the old even if they're wealthy enough not need the help.
"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," Cameron will say, according to advance extracts released by his aides.
"No one has put in as much as our elderly. Now it's our turn -- our fundamental duty -- to care for them."
Cameron's latest move to court pensioners, who surveys show are much more likely to vote than younger people, is an attempt to differentiate his party from rivals who have promised to curb the benefits of wealthier pensioners.
Labour has pledged to stop paying the winter fuel allowance to the richest 5 percent of pensioners if elected, while the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in Cameron's coalition, has signalled it wants to end the same perk and axe free TV licences for wealthy pensioners.
Cameron has already promised to protect a system that guarantees the value of state pensions, and earlier this month George Osborne, his Chancellor, extended until after the forthcoming election a scheme allowing pensioners to invest in state bonds that yield much more than normal saving accounts.
Critics accused him of blatant electioneering at the time, saying it would unnecessarily inflate government borrowing costs.
http://i.imgur.com/uueEHB3.jpg
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron will promise Britain's pensioners on Monday that they can keep a range of welfare perks if he is re-elected on May 7, seeking to shore up support from one of the groups most likely to use their votes.
In a speech in southern England, Cameron, whose Conservatives are level in many polls with the opposition Labour Party, will pledge to protect free bus passes, winter fuel payments, free TV licences and medicine-related subsidies for the old even if they're wealthy enough not need the help.
"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," Cameron will say, according to advance extracts released by his aides.
"No one has put in as much as our elderly. Now it's our turn -- our fundamental duty -- to care for them."
Cameron's latest move to court pensioners, who surveys show are much more likely to vote than younger people, is an attempt to differentiate his party from rivals who have promised to curb the benefits of wealthier pensioners.
Labour has pledged to stop paying the winter fuel allowance to the richest 5 percent of pensioners if elected, while the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in Cameron's coalition, has signalled it wants to end the same perk and axe free TV licences for wealthy pensioners.
Cameron has already promised to protect a system that guarantees the value of state pensions, and earlier this month George Osborne, his Chancellor, extended until after the forthcoming election a scheme allowing pensioners to invest in state bonds that yield much more than normal saving accounts.
Critics accused him of blatant electioneering at the time, saying it would unnecessarily inflate government borrowing costs.