Esther McVey: Judge us by how we look after others

Feb 27 2013 by Our Correspondent, Heswall News

THE 2011 census showed nearly one in five people in Wirral are aged 65 or over and that is set to increase in the next two decades to one in four.

That is why this government delivered the biggest ever cash increase to the state pension with a £5.30 increase per week in April 2012. We did this thanks to the triple lock we introduced making sure the basic state pension will always rise by the highest of either average earnings, inflation, or 2.5%.

David Cameron was elected on a promise to protect universal benefits for pensioners and that is what he has done. Conservatives have protected amongst others, free bus passes, free TV licences, free prescriptions and of course the winter fuel allowance.

As an MP in Wirral, which has an ageing population, I firmly believe, as does this government, that people deserve respect and dignity in old age and that they should be provided with the support they need.

It is why we are protecting universal benefits for pensioners, simplifying the state pension and introducing auto-enrolment pension schemes in the workplace ensuring most people in work are automatically included in a workplace pension scheme.

This will boost the number of people saving for their pension which plummeted under Labour.

A society is judged by how it looks after its elderly so it is up to us all to look after our elderly in a way we would like to be looked after.