Followers

Thursday 22 April 2010

David Cameron's reply........

Ok here's the reply I received from David Cameron's office (Conservatives) to the letter I sent to him at the same time as I wrote to Gordon Brown.      It isn't just a copy and paste from his party's manifesto like I got from the Labour party office, it is a sensible reply to the issues I raised in my letter.   


Conservatives




Saturday, 17th April 2010


Dear Mrs N.........

 
I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your letter of 11th April 2010.

 
We are grateful to you for taking the time and trouble to get in touch and for including the attached newspaper clippings, which have been carefully noted. Although it is obviously difficult to comment on someone's individual situation, we certainly understand your concern about reports of this kind.


We believe in a fair and equitable system for everyone and at the moment, Britain is facing a massive jobs crisis, with almost 2.5 million people unemployed, another 2.6 million people on Incapacity Benefit, and one in five young people unable to find a job. In order to meet this challenge we have published our plan to Get Britain Working, including a comprehensive programme of welfare reform designed to tackle the jobs crisis and break the cycle of long term benefit dependency that has grown under this Government.


On the issue of pensions, those who have contributed to our nation over the years need to have security in their retirement and old age - it should be a time for people to look forward to, not worry about.


When Labour came to power in 1997, Britain had one of the best pension systems in Europe. Millions of people were saving prudently for their retirement. Gordon Brown betrayed them, robbing them of security in retirement through his £100 billion stealth tax raid on their pension funds. What's more, Labour's system of means-testing is an insult to the dignity of older people. Many pensioners miss out on the benefits that they are entitled to because of the complicated system Gordon Brown has put in place.



We can't go on like this. As our population grows older, we need change if we are to give people security and dignity in old age. Our approach is based on our belief in responsibility - we should encourage people to take more control over their lives.


We know how frustrated pensioners are. We know that they have been told many times before that the pension will be linked with earnings rather than prices - but this is a change a Conservative Government will make. We will restore the link between the basic state pension and average earnings to help stop the spread of means testing.

 
We can afford this promise because we have made the choice to raise the retirement age to 66 earlier than planned by the Government but starting no earlier than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.



In addition to this, we want to give people more choice over how they deal with their pension savings, more control over their income in retirement, and more peace of mind. A Conservative Government:

 
• will end the effective obligation to buy an annuity at 75;


• will introduce a new home protection scheme to help stop people having to sell theirhomes to pay for residential care. Under the new voluntary scheme people reaching retirement will have the option to pay a one-off joining fee (that we estimate will be around £8,000) in return for a guarantee that absolutely all fees for permanent residential care would be waived for life;


. will work with local councils to freeze Council Tax for two years; and


• will remove the stigma attached to Council Tax Benefit by re-naming it Council Tax Rebate.




It is also important to be clear on what we would not change. A Conservative Government

• will protect Disability Living Allowance for the over 65s and Attendance Allowance for pensioners;


. will keep the winter fuel allowance;


. will keep free TV licences for pensioners;


. won't cut the state pension;


. won't take away free bus passes for pensioners.


We believe that people deserve to look forward to retirement with confidence, not fear. Pensioners deserve security, dignity and quality of life in their old age. For that to happen, we need change, to link the basic state pension back with earnings and better encourage people to save for their retirement.

 
We all know that with Labour in charge our country is heading in completely the wrong direction. That is why there is a clear choice at this election between five more years of Gordon Brown's tired government making things worse, or David Cameron and the Conservatives with the energy, leadership and values to get the country moving. I hope you will feel able to join us as we seek to change our country for the better.


Thank you again for writing.



Yours sincerely,

 Ian Pendlington

 Office of the Rt. Hon David Cameron




If I get a further 'sensible' reply from Gordon Brown I will post it.   I am still waiting for a reply from Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats).

14 comments:

A Lady's Life said...

Well what can you do.
People need to keep the pressure on I guess. lol

Dumdad said...

I hope the Tories, if elected, stand by these words.

Anonymous said...

Excellent reply. I hope they stick to this. I'm can't wait to see what Brown has to say to the last letter :)

Ron said...

Wow, I'm very impressed that he took the time to write back so thoroughly!

This sounds great. Hope they adhere to it.

Please keep us posted, m'dear.

Have a great day!

X

buffalodick said...

Here, the promises create "selective memory"..they only remember the ones the people help them remember!

Catsngrams said...

Sounds like your country is in the same mess ours is in. However maybe you will come out ahead. We pensioners do not get anything for free and no tax cuts. It is really hard for the older folks to get any help and if they do get it the government takes their property when they die. America the land of the free I do not think so.

Fletch said...

OK.

There are reassurances about what they will do IF they get into power, although I am always a bit wary when they tell you that it will be funded by something that isn't in place - as yet!

Usually when the time comes they 'discover' that their sums were a bit off target, and suggest we all grin and bear it.

Probably until the NEXT election!

I hope somebody from Mr Clegg's office is dealing with your letter, or it may become clear that they (the Lib-Dems) don't have any plans in place to take care of the OAP's.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

i wish they had sent you a "real" reply instead of a canned one... too bad.

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxooxox

Akelamalu said...

Apart from write and make one's views know, there's not a lot else one can do Lady's Life.

Me too Dumdad

It is a good reply, but will they stick to it Thom? I'm waiting with baited breath for the next reply from the Labour party. ;)

I was pleased with the detailed reply Ron but putting it into practice could be a different matter.

You're right Buff

You sound a lot worse off there Catsngrams :(

Oh you're so right Fletch! It's like GB promising a referendum on the EU - that never materialised did it? Now he's promising yet more referendums - why don't we believe him?

This reply doesn't seem like a 'canned' one Bee, the one from the Labour party DEFINITELY WAS!

Spiky Zora Jones said...

akelamalu: I'm surprised it was so detailed. it just goes to show you thaat there are more than one point of view...it just depends on the shoes a person has on.

I hope it all get ssorted out.

later sweets.
xxx

Julia Phillips Smith said...

This one is hilarious:

'will remove the stigma attached to Council Tax Benefit by re-naming it Council Tax Rebate.'

Yeah. That's like Unemployment Insurance in Canada - it was renamed Employment Insurance for the same reasons. Same song, different tune.

Much better reply, but as you mentioned, it's voting time. And he wants to seize the reins of power. I can see a lot of ego-stroking towards those populous pensioner-voters in this letter.

who said...

You have such an attractive mind. I think that has been my problem. This whole time I had been reading either physically attractive authors posts, or posts of authors with brilliant minds.

I should have just stuck to reading the authors that were brilliant and physically beautiful.

You're both of those AND you have a sense of humor, you must be Cloudia's sister.
:)

Akelamalu said...

I too was surprised at how detailed it is Spiky but they are trying to get the votes. ;)

You got it Julia!

Hi Dusty and welcome. Thankyou for your kind words.

Unknown said...

Yes but he has already back tracked on the one off payment of £8000 to stop homes being sold to pay for care. They are all liars, each and every one of them but especially so the conservatives. I say vote Monster raving looney party! You won't notice the difference.