It's Insulting The Way Pensioners Are Being Grovelled Over.

It would certainly be helpful if the threshold were raised to £20k, as Reform UK have said they’ll do, alongside wiping the debts of university students who have accrued debts of some £55k+ with a horrendous interest rate attached. The debt just keeps growing for them. I’m sure many of us have children or grandchildren in this position and they start their lives with this massive burden around their necks.
It’s worth checking out their manifesto.

Even with a 'none of the above' choice, if I was made to vote I would refuse to. If we live in a democracy that includes the right to play no part in it at all.

Calendargirl

Sparklefizz

I think it should be law that everyone eligible has to vote so that at least a true picture of the country’s wishes is arrived at.
I believe this is the law in Australia?? Perhaps someone in Aus can correct me?

Yes, it’s compulsory to vote in Australia.

Yes, there's a fine if you don't vote.

Sparklefizz

I think it should be law that everyone eligible has to vote so that at least a true picture of the country’s wishes is arrived at.
I believe this is the law in Australia?? Perhaps someone in Aus can correct me?

As long as you have a category "none of the above" whose votes are counted and recorded, then I'm fine with compulsory voting. We all know not every vote for a candidate is an endorsement of them but that a proportion will be "least worst option" votes. No elected mp has ever said they acknowledge some voted for them as least worst option have they? They all take every vote as a ringing endorsement.

vegansrock

This is policy won’t bribe many pensioners who would benefit more from having a functioning NHS and social care system. The joke is there used to be tax allowance for pensioners which the Tories got rid of in 2010. Raising the personal allowance for all in line with inflation would be fairer, plus raising the pension to match it, so those who only have a state pension wouldn’t pay tax. They really are straw clutching here.

I do agree with this statement.

This is policy won’t bribe many pensioners who would benefit more from having a functioning NHS and social care system. The joke is there used to be tax allowance for pensioners which the Tories got rid of in 2010. Raising the personal allowance for all in line with inflation would be fairer, plus raising the pension to match it, so those who only have a state pension wouldn’t pay tax. They really are straw clutching here.

Current full state pension is £11,500. Current personal allowance is £12,570

State pension would have to increase by over £1,000 pa before it is subject to tax. If inflation is running at about 4% by next year the increase in SP would be about £480, not enough to bring it into the tax bracket. It might just achieve that in the following year.

The Telegraph story said that the initial saving for those on state pension only would be ( in a couple of year's time) £100 pa. Wow!

Is that really enough to bribe enough pensioners to vote the tories back into power?

Their income is surely part of their circumstances. Two people might manage, add a child into the mix and they need benefits.

Germanshepherdsmum

No, because their entitlement to benefits depends on individual circumstances.

It depends more on income, than their circumstances.

Maggiemaybe

Germanshepherdsmum
“I’m sure that if Labour had announced this there would be no criticism.
Oh, there would. If I disagree with a policy, I disagree, wherever it originates. We’re not all blind to the faults of our chosen political party. I haven’t come across a perfect one yet.”

I too would have disagreed, just as I’ll disagree if the LP did/does this for the under 25’s.

I disagreed with the decrease of NI, for exactly the same reasons, it benefits only SOME who pay tax, not all taxpayers, and this would also have benefitted high income earners too!

As it is now so easy to keep copies and pictures of politicians making promises on what they will do if elected, it would be good if these were collected and retained and were then available to remind the very short memories of the politicians , of their promises after they were elected. Having the actual recording of what they said would mean that they could not weasel their way out or conveniently "half remember" only what suits them. Perhaps this would make politicians think twice. It would be easy to play the recordings side by side with whatever they said in the future if this differed a great deal

The moment voting is made compulsory I will stop voting. In a democracy, by definition everyone should have the right to refuse to be part of it.

This is exactly what I was referring to;-

“ Yesterday (27/4/22) the High Court ruled that decisions of the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, were “irrational” and so unlawful, because he had failed to consider the known risk that people entering a care home without Covid symptoms would transmit the virus to the highly vulnerable care home population.

From March 2020, the Government’s policy was to free up hospital beds by discharging people into care homes. In March and the first half of April, care homes were told to care for residents without obvious Covid symptoms “as normal”, taking no extra precautions like wearing PPE or quarantining new residents. This was despite what the Court called a “growing appreciation that asymptomatic transmission was a real possibility”. The result was that people were discharged from hospitals into care homes who hadn’t been tested, and who were infected with Covid, and permitted to mix straightaway with other residents in their homes. More than 20,000 care home residents died of Covid during the first wave of the pandemic in what the Prime Minister himself has described as “an appalling epidemic”.

The Court said that: “Anyone devising a policy affecting care homes must, if they are to act rationally, bear in mind that a majority of residents of care homes are not only elderly but also have other health issues which make them particularly vulnerable to infections”. … “Those drafting the March Discharge Policy and the April Admissions Guidance”, the two government policies under challenge, “simply failed to take into account the highly relevant consideration of the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from asymptomatic transmission.”

Although there is to be a public inquiry it is only the Court that can rule on whether the Government acted unlawfully in its claim that it protected care home residents from Covid. The Court stated that this was an “important and legitimate” case.

We have held the Government to account and we hope that the most vulnerable in our society will not be overlooked and ignored in any future health emergency. It has been a long and draining journey to bring this case to court. We brought it not only for our families but on behalf of the many families in the country who lost loved ones. Ultimately we succeeded.”

I am talking about govt policy towards Covid in the first few months before they decided to take Covid more seriously!

I treat all these eleventh hour promises, either by Labour or Conservatives, with the cynicism they deserve.

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m sure that if Labour had announced this there would be no criticism.

Oh, there would. If I disagree with a policy, I disagree, wherever it originates. We’re not all blind to the faults of our chosen political party. I haven’t come across a perfect one yet.

maddyone

Cossy I was in hospital with Covid in January 2021. I was looked after in an exemplary way. I was given nine different medications and I was made well and I am eternally grateful for my life.

With regard to Care Homes, many managed to care for their residents without losing any, or many, to Covid, but it entailed very careful management. My mother was in a care home after the worst of Covid was thankfully over, but still precautions were taken whilst she was there. They had outbreaks of Covid while she was there, but no deaths, thanks to good management.

My MiL was also in a care home and my clinically vulnerable mother was in her own home alone. I’m not criticising care homes, do you not remember the spread in care homes at the beginning? I do and many older people did die.

Germanshepherdsmum

Why don’t people understand the cost of raising the personal allowance for everyone?

I think we do understand, so better keep it frozen then. It was clearly frozen for Tories to save money, so how will they suddenly be able to find it??

All credit to the homes.
None to the government from me, though.

The procedures put in place to prevent the spread of Covid in my mother’s care home worked. Covid was contained and there were no deaths. Some care homes dealt with Covid very well. Many care homes had no deaths MissA although many did have deaths. Credit where credit is due though, my mother’s home did well.

Cossy

Germanshepherdsmum

So what if it’s only just been announced? It’s been announced and it’s good news.

But it’s a scam and just out there because many many conservatives rely on the over 60 vote. Perhaps they should have looked after us better during Covid!

Raise the personal allowance for all, then we and low earners all benefit.

The same as Labours message will be to the youngster's under 25, voting for 16 year olds. Same as, neither any different.

I dontdoubt for one minute that care home staff looked after the residents.

It was the "ring fencing" by the government I was referring to.

MissA they were in my mother’s care home.

Cossy I was in hospital with Covid in January 2021. I was looked after in an exemplary way. I was given nine different medications and I was made well and I am eternally grateful for my life.

With regard to Care Homes, many managed to care for their residents without losing any, or many, to Covid, but it entailed very careful management. My mother was in a care home after the worst of Covid was thankfully over, but still precautions were taken whilst she was there. They had outbreaks of Covid while she was there, but no deaths, thanks to good management.

People in care homes weren't looked after.

I’m sure that if Labour had announced this there would be no criticism.