Today David Cameron has nailed another Labour lie.  For weeks, local Labour Party activists have been distributing completely dishonest literature, much of it on headed paper from the current Labour MP, targeting vulnerable residents.  The aim is simple: to scare people into supporting another 5 years of Labour government.  Sadly, it is a sign of desperation but also contempt for the people of Eltham.

David Cameron said today:

“The Government I lead will make sure that older and retired people are treated with dignity and given the quality of life they deserve. This is my pledge to support pensioners.

My Government will:

• Increase the value of the basic state pension for all pensioners and help to stop the spread of the means test by linking pensions to earnings. You won’t get a repeat of Labour’s mean 75p rise with us.
• Freeze council tax for the next two years, in partnership with your council.
• Make it worthwhile to save for a personal pension and get rid of the rules that force people to get a compulsory annuity.
• Help people protect their home rather than have to sell it to pay for care.
• Take all family homes worth less than £1 million out of inheritance tax.
• Increase spending on the NHS every year, which is our number one priority.
• Cut paperwork so we get more police out on the beat fighting crime.
  

Our opponents are trying to scare older people by telling deliberate lies about our plans. So here is a personal promise, from me, about the things we will protect.

• I will protect your Winter Fuel Payment.
• I will protect your free bus pass and your free TV licence.
• I will protect the pension credit.
  

These vital benefits will not be cut under the Conservatives. You have my word on it.

If he wins the election, Gordon Brown wants to introduce a number of measures which will hit pensioners: A Conservative Government will not penalise pensioners, as Labour are planning to do:

• We will NOT introduce a ‘death tax’ of up to £50,000.
• We will NOT cut attendance allowance and disability allowance for the over 65s.
• We can afford to make these pledges because we have found the money from other areas, like cutting government waste and bringing forward the date at which the state pension age will rise to 66.”  
  

Speaking at an event to launch the pledge, the Tory leader was scathing about the Government's record of supporting pensioners:

"I think this Government has got a lot of things wrong. But when I think of how they have treated the elderly, I think they should be ashamed of themselves. Those are strong words I know, but that’s how strongly I feel about this. We hear the Prime Minister talking about his moral compass. But when we have more pensioners living in poverty than anywhere else in Western Europe, when his £100 billion tax raid has destroyed private pensions, when more and more people have been dragged into the hated means test, when social care penalises those who have worked hard and saved hard by forcing them to sell their home, when Gordon Brown now proposes a new death tax, taking up to £50,000 of your estate when you die to pay for your care, when some of our eldest and most vulnerable people are too scared to walk along streets they’ve lived on for decades, just where is that compass pointing? Just whose side is he on?"

“Labour aren’t being straight with you about what they’re doing. And they’re not being straight with you about what we plan either. They’re going around scaring pensioners, telling you that the Conservatives are going to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance, cut pension credit and end free bus travel and TV licences for over-75s, you must not believe them. I can promise you – these are lies, lies, lies. You have my word. If we win the election, we will protect all of these things."

I am delighted that David Cameron has shown he has a set of policies to help our elderly people, even if Gordon brown and his closest supporters have lost their moral compass.

It's Mothering Sunday and I hope if you're a mum you're being spoilt rotten today!  Sadly, my mum died 5 years ago next month so for me it's simply a day to remember her great smile.

Not surprisingly, with an election round the corner, the press have decided to make the link and suggest that this time, it's the mums 'wot will win it' for one or other of the political parties.  I'd like to think that most mums help decide the outcome of every election, especially since all women over 18 now have the right to vote!  As the more family friendly party I'd hope mums across the country will do their bit to put David Cameron into Number 10.  I'm going to spare my readers a political tract today on why mums would be wise to support the Conservatives.  I simply want to wish every mum a very happy and restful Mothering Sunday.

There has been much talk of opinion polls and the potential of a hung parliament in recent days.  There has also, for the first time in years, been discussion about Labour, led by Gordon brown, leading the country beyond the Summer.

Regular readers of this blog will know I never really get very excited about opinion polls.  The people of Eltham will, eventually, have their say and that is the only opinion poll I will take notice of.  But what recent polls do help to do is remind people of the very real choice they face: more of the same tired, discredited, deceitful, incompetent, self-serving bunch led by Gordon Brown.  Or a fresh new government led by a team full of ambition for the people of this country, ready to get our economy moving again by cutting red tape and taxes; a government prepared to tackle immigration and reduce it to levels not seen since the 1990s; an administration ready to put police back on the streets, to fix our schools, to fix our broken society and to safeguard frontline services including the NHS.

Our country needs a change in direction.  We need that change urgently.  I believe people are fed up and angry with Labour and with politicians generally.  It's my hope that I can play a part in restoring our political system and our country.  It won't be easy, but it starts here in Eltham.  It's time for change.  Soon, it will be time to vote for change.  It can't come soon enough.