Pensioners convention addressed by David Jack

Speech by David Jack delivered to Pensioners Convention (Grey Wolves) on Fri 25th Feb 2005

I would like to start today by giving you some honesty about myself.

I do not have a degree or a masters in Political studies, I do not have A or O levels in Political science. I have no formal qualifications in PR or politics whatsoever.

The only qualification I have to stand in front of you today as a Parliamentary Candidate is the fact that I am born in, raised, educated, living and working in Wolverhampton

You know for years candidates from all parties have pitched up in Wolverhampton and alleged to have a connection, a tenuous connection to our City that qualifies them to be our candidate. - Particularly Tory candidates, predominately Southern Tory candidates, who profess there great grandfather once brought a loaf of bread from a corner shop in Low Hill on his way to Stafford.

Well I simply say - if your not from Wolverhampton, living in the city, what do you really know about conditions here?

What do they know about being a pensioner in the city?

What do they know about the lack of provisions, such as toilets in the town centre?

What do they know about the hassles and the problems faced when were out shopping, being accosted by beggars and scroungers at every turn?

What do they know about the fear faced by many pensioners whilst in and around our city, fear caused by the lack of Policing and the lack of enforcement against drunken yobs?

What do they know about the poor state of our hospital, the mis-management of services and the threats of closure to our eye hospital?

Lack of inward investment and a chronic failure to redevelop and regenerate Wolverhampton, I believe are the key issues which are treated with contempt by the current Labour incumbents and are paid lip service by the Tory wannabes.

Only someone familiar with both the cause and the effects of social deprivation created by years of neglect by the higher powers, can really grasp the nettle with true passion and a commitment to change.

Only someone being raised with and living amongst friends and family who have been subjected to these conditions can be versed in the real issues that many politicians are either blind too or choose to avoid.

Someone once said, A nation can be judged as to how good it is by the manner in which it treats its elder generation.

On that basis, the UK is quite clearly going down the pan.

Look how governments, Labour and Tory, over the years has treated the elder generation.

With contempt and a total lack of care.

Is it fair to work all your life, pay your taxes and then to be dumped on by the powers that be?

Is it fair to save for your pension, only to see it undermined and devalued by the politicians who couldn't care less about you because they are safe in the knowledge that their pensions are secure?

I think not, I'm sure you do as well.

But what else is unfair?

Council Tax is one of the most unfair and hard hitting taxes currently facing pensioners in Wolverhampton.

Year on year our City Council, under the direction of a Labour Government have raised the tax way above and beyond inflation.

Year on year, pensioners are the hardest hit by the tax.

Invented by Micheal Howard and the Tories when they were last in Government and continued under Labour, the tax is set to get even higher under proposals about to be passed to revalue and re-band our property.

What do the opposition offer?

Tories promise to cut upto £500 off a pensioner couples bill.

Big deal!

That means you still pay, on average, £600 in Wolverhampton, and for what?

Liberal Democrats offer an alternative, and have done so for some considerable period of time.

A tax, raised locally, based on the ability to pay, not the current crazy system of basing it on the price of ones property.

Under our proposals, most pensioners would probably pay no more than £22 per year.

Many, the less well off would pay nil.

That's what I call fair.

But we, as Liberal Democrats do not want pensioners to be less well off.

We want an end to means testing.

We want to ensure that every retiring person can look forward to a life of rewards, of creature comforts, of not wanting for the very basics that dictate our quality of life.

To that end, we would create a citizens pension, a pension that is based on residency, not national insurance contributions, a scheme that will particularly benefit many women.

The level of this new pension would be set at the same level as the guarantee level, thereby lifting all pensioners out of means testing.

At the same time we would restore the link with earnings, thereby ensuring that as the wealth of the nation grows, so too do our pensioners wealth.

We offer a pension based on fairness.

But life is more than about collecting a pension.

We want to be well enough to be able to enjoy our retirements.

Health care is another example of how successive governments have failed the people of Wolverhampton.

New Cross, we all know about that place and the lost millions.

Now the eye hospital is under threat of closure because of mis-management.

And no one in government is listening. How many times have the people of Wolverhampton got to run campaigns and petitions against the closure, only to have the same ignored by higher powers?

Liberal Democrats believe that health is more than just a services provision and choice is more than just where an operation is carried out.

People want to be able to live healthy lives, and if they need health services then such services need to be of good quality, close to home and responsive to them as individuals.

This is in complete contrast to the Labour policy of choice for the few and the Tory plans of choice for the wealthy.

Liberal Democrats propose that free eye and dental checks would be a normal service for everyone.

We will remove central targets which interfere with the smooth running of health care services and we will drive up standards by giving a real voice to local people.

Quite simply, we propose;

More doctors, more nurses, less bureaucracy, less state interference, better health.

And no one, but no one will be forced to sell their house for personal or medical care that they need in retirement. That disgusting practice would stop immediately under Liberal Democrats.

Its time to restore faith in politics. Its time for honesty and fairness to be at the forefront of policies.

We already know that both Labour and the Conservatives cannot be trusted with the truth.

How can we trust them?

After all they took us into a war as an aggressor nation. At least in 1939 we all knew the reasons for a war, we all knew clearly what had to be done, why it was necessary to go to war.

How things are different today, everything that previous generations had fought for has been undermined overnight and thrown on the scrap heap.

What a sad indictment to Labour, the party that took us to war as an aggressor nation, on a false premise, on a lie.

What a sad indictment too of the official opposition, the Tories, who bayed for war and supported the war before any dodgy evidence was even presented.

Who wants to trust such people?

I believe that Liberal Democrats offer a choice of fairness for all, especially pensioners and invite everyone to join me to bring Liberal Democracy and its benefits to everyone in Wolverhampton.

Related Link:

David Jack addresses Grey Wolves (Pensioners convention).