Jonathan Djanogly, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the Huntingdon constituency has today outlined the Party’s position on pensioners. Mr Djanogly said; ‘Since the campaign started I have been out and about a lot and spoken with hundreds of people. One of the most prominent issues is what are we going to do to help pensioners? I can promise that we will;

• Increase the value of the basic state pension for all pensioners and help to stop the spread of the means test by linking pensions to earnings.
• Freeze council tax for the next two years, in partnership with your council.
• Make it worthwhile to save for a personal pension and get rid of the rules that force people to get a compulsory annuity.
• Help people protect their home rather than have to sell it to pay for residential care.
• Take all family homes worth less than £1 million out of inheritance tax.
• Increase spending on the NHS every year, which is our number one priority.
• Cut paperwork so we get more police out on the beat fighting crime.

‘I was in Hunters Down Residential Care Home in Huntingdon yesterday and I had a good chat with a number of elderly people about the Conservative proposals and they all sounded very positive.’ A Conservative Government will not penalise pensioners, as Labour are planning to do:

• We will NOT introduce a ‘death tax’ of up to £50,000.
• We will NOT cut attendance allowance and disability allowance for the over 65s.
• We can afford to make these pledges because we have found the money from other areas, like cutting government waste and bringing forward the date at which the state pension age will rise to 66.

This has been echoed by David Cameron who said recently ‘Our opponents are trying to scare older people by telling deliberate lies about our plans. So here is a personal promise, from me, about the things we will protect.

• I will protect your Winter Fuel Payment.
• I will protect your free bus pass and your free TV licence.
• I will protect the pension credit.

‘These vital benefits will not be cut under the Conservatives. You have my word on it. Mr Djanogly added, ‘Older people deserve dignity and security in their old age. Many feel that after 13 years of Labour the benefits system works in favour of people who do not save – this needs to change and the Conservatives are the only party that will address this.’