All Scotland Pensioners Group’ Manifesto for 2011

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A -Abolish Pensioner poverty by giving Senior Citizens an index linked Pension of £180.00p per week. (The uk currently spends 6.1% of G.D.P. (Gross Domestic Product) on pension provision, whereas comparable European countries are spending between 9-15% of their economies on pension provision. Even after our proposed increase we would still be at the bottom of this league).

B- Banish Means-testing which is demeaning and intrusive and very costly to operate.(All studies show that means testing costs more to operate than it actually saves in revenue)

C- Council tax to be replaced by a fairer system linked to the ability to pay as an interim step- reduce Council Tax for all pensioners by 50%.

D-Demand an end to the sale of Pensioners homes to pay for residential care!

In order to raise the priority of who we represent and to pay for our proposals we will distribute the national wealth in a fairer manner like removing Trident nuclear weapons and non elected quango’s (house of lords) and a taxation on bankers bonuses and end illegal wars. Hundreds of billions would be saved and put to greater benefits to the citizens of Britain. (Intervention in Libya is now costing £30 million a day, whilst at home our citizens are losing jobs and facing massive cuts). 792 spongers in the House of Lords 117 added this year alone by David Cameron. He is kicking all the non achievers upstairs as they must not be seen to be failures as it’s not good for the government image. Trident is way out of date and should be scrapped.

  There are countless other problems facing Pensioners and as     well as pursuing the above we will also actively campaign on the following issues:-

Health and Social care.

We want realistic hospital waiting lists that are not dressed up or doctored. Reduce the waiting times for appointments. More patients centred as we are hearing more and more that the patients feel they are just lumps of meat.

Free travel by Rail Ferries and Trams.

This is a must as it is a way of getting out and combating loneliness and isolation.

Benefits generally  Carers in particular including respite.

We will fight for better benefits and carer respite. It is huge stress on relationships when one is caring for someone.

An end to Age discrimination and compulsory retirement.

If a person feels they can carry on working then in our opinion they should be allowed to carry on. When some people are forced to retire they feel they are thrown on the scrap heap and lose interest in life in general. When they do retire we would like to see programmes set up for the transition from working to retirement.

Housing and Fuel Poverty.

Improvement of housing adapted to a persons needs should be a priority for people to stay in them as they spend most of their lives in them. The price of fuel is making us isolated as the cost is rocketing and reducing our visits to family, outings etc and adding to our isolation.(Official records from the Registrar for Scotland show that 34,500 pensioners have died due to winter related illness in the last 10 years, this is criminal in a civilised society)

Law and Order.

Attendance at clubs and places of entertainment or interest are dropping because of the fear of attack at night with the increase in gangs. Most of us are wary about opening our door at night for fear of gangs. We must start at the bottom of this one. Children should be treated right and kept in a family environment and not force adopted or snatched from parents so they can grow up happy and content. The motive for authorities is to reduce cost but in the long run the cost is multiplied as being taken away from their family destroys their self esteem and leaves them with no respect for older people. They are aggressive hard to handle and when they grow up they choose gangs for that family feeling they were robbed of when they were young.

Student Fees (Theses are our Grandchildren)

Free student fees and free prescriptions are a great if we can afford it. 

Financial experts have been saying they cannot be maintained. How will the money lost in these free election scams  be made up? i tell you the low priority items on their list which is Pensioners, Grandparents, Disabled and Families that will be the losers. the main party's have no interest in us whatsoever.  We need that voice in Parliament before  they kill us off altogether.

(We propose that a graduate tax be introduced  and payable by those who earn £50,000 pounds or above)

My personal Goal is to make Family Law fairer and pursue the legislation of ‘The Charter for Grandchildren’
A huge fortune is made in family law and massive savings will be made when this is sorted out. The government has lots of lawyers and they are members of the Scottish Law Society and their first oath they take is to fellow lawyers.

The Scottish Law Society advises the government on various policies and every time they do it is always for the benefit of their members. Family law in Scotland is such a mess and it is to the benefit of lawyers who are making a fortune from the misery caused to families. it would not suit lawyers for the family laws to change. The mainstream of problems is for contact with children. The criteria is for the best interests of the children but it often turns out to be they best interests of lawyers, social services and other professionals who deal in the welfare of children. Grandparents Apart UK due to their constant lobbying convinced the Scottish that something needed to be done. The executive created the Charter for Grandchildren with a stakeholders group with Grandparents Apart UK as part of it. The Charter was intended for all to look more closely at the role grandparents can play in s child’s live rather than forced adoption or fostering or care but is was made advisory and now it needs to be mandatory as it is not being complied with as it is.

    Children can be used as weapons in relationships and Grandparents Apart UK policy is that the best interests of a child would be served by both parents being relevant provided there is no proven violence in the relationship and grandparents and extended family should have a say in a family group conference to resolve disputes again centred on the real best interests of the children.