Midlands: Better deal for pensioners?

Patrick Burns West Midlands Political Editor

A better deal for pensioners, but who should pay for it? That is the main talking point on Politics Show Midlands.

A better deal for pensioners, but who should pay for it?

The Tories have an answer. They would get rid of means-testing and restore the link with average earnings.

But who scrapped the link with average earnings in the first place?

You guessed it ... the Tories!

To pay for it, the Tories would scrap one of the Government's flagship policies under the New Deal, 'Welfare to Work' for young unemployed people and single parents.

Politics Show Midlands reporter, Sarah Chaundler, has been talking to pensioners in Wolverhampton who feel badly let down.

They have paid their 'stamp' throughout their working lives only to find it hasn't bought them the security and peace of mind they were promised for their old age.

With Council Tax bills set to rise sharply next year, Midlands pensioners have been joining the wave of protests around the country.

Sarah also visits Balsall Heath in Birmingham where nearly one fifth of the potential working population are currently unemployed.

She talks to local voluntary worker Anita Halliday who says money that ought to be coming their way under the New Deal is no longer getting through to the people who need it most.

So do the Tories have a point? After all, the unemployed people and single parents of today are the pensioners of tomorrow.

Politics Show

Live in the studio to debate this issue with Adrian Goldberg will be Rob Marris (Labour, Wolverhampton South West), a member of the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee and Tony Miller from the Pensioners' Convention.

Also this week, our East Midlands Political Editor John Hess examines the increasingly vocal campaign for the voting age to be lowered to sixteen.

He will be talking to Peter Mason, 17, who represents Leicester in the UK Youth Parliament.

This week Peter has organised a workshop to help teenagers in the area present their case to the local council and they will also be carrying out a survey of public opinion in the city.

Could this be the answer to the problem of voter-apathy among young people?

The Liberal Democrats certainly think so, because they have thrown their weight behind the campaign for a lower voting age.

Or would giving the vote to sixteen year olds merely add the percentages of 'stay-away' voters?

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Join presenter Adrian Goldberg for The Politics Show on BBC One on Sundays at Noon.

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