Cold-hearted Tories freeze out elderly

Salford’s Older People’s Champion has spoken out against the latest Tory-led Government plans to cut winter fuel payments the elderly.
Speaking at Salford Forum of Older People today, Cllr John Ferguson, said a decision to cut the winter fuel allowance showed the Government was “as cold-hearted as the homes of many old people will be this winter”.
He added: “In Salford the Council has had to make £42 million cuts and we made a deliberate decision to protect the most vulnerable. We have maintained our standards of care for the elderly when others have reduced them.
“But this Government has cold-heartedly cut the winter fuel allowance and done so cynically in the small print of the Budget.”
The Conservatives and their Lib Dem allies both promised that they would not reduce the winter fuel allowance and Cllr Ferguson condemned “another broken promise from this Government”.
Despite soaring fuel prices and last year’s bitterly cold winter, the Tory-led Government has announced that the elderly will have their winter fuel allowance slashed by £50 for the over 60s and £100 for the over 80s.
Cllr Ferguson later said: “So much for Cameron and Clegg’s General Election pledge that the payments would stay in place. Nick Clegg, after the Budget, even tried to claim on local radio that winter fuel payments were ‘rising’.
"Nick Clegg needs to come clean with pensioners in Salford and correct his mistaken claim that winter fuel payments are rising. He must finally admit that this December they will be £100 lower for the over 80s and £50 lower for those aged 65-80.”