Isle of Wight Labour share this latest as part of the 2017 general election campaign. Ed
Labour Candidate on the Isle of Wight, Julian Critchley, said today that the Conservatives appeared to be trying to help Labour close the polling gap by attacking their own key voting group: pensioners.
As part of their manifesto, the Conservatives unveiled new plans to include the value of pensioners’ homes when deciding eligibility for help with care costs.
Surrendering homes to meet care costs
As 75% of pensioners own their own homes, this essentially means that far more pensioners will need to surrender the value of those homes to meet their care costs.
Mr Critchley said
“It really is remarkable that the Tories have announced this policy, which will hit the great majority of pensioners very hard indeed. It effectively means that pensioners requiring care support will no longer be able to pass the value of their homes on to their families.
“Coming hard on the heels of the Tories’ abandonment of the triple-lock on pension value, and their manifesto commitment to remove the winter fuel allowance from most pensioners, this is a concerted attack on pensioners as a group.
“Considering that pensioners have traditionally been a heavily Tory-leaning group of voters, this is either a catastrophic misjudgement, or remarkable complacency on the part of Theresa May. Frankly, I can hardly believe our luck. It’s a massive own goal by the Tories.
“This election is now the clearest choice this country has seen in decades, between a Labour Party which guarantees no tax rises for anyone earning less than £80,000, and a Tory Party which is squeezing young people, working people, and now pensioners, to pay for huge tax cuts for their corporate friends.”
