Thursday, November 16, 2006

Lincs MP condemns home care charge hike


Good to hear at least one Lincolnshire MP speaking up for vulnerable elderly people.

This from BBC Radio Lincolnshire:

Newsreader: The MP for Lincoln, Gillian Merron, is urging Lincolnshire County Council to think again over controversial increases in homecare costs.

Gillian Merron: My priorities would be about serving people and it would be about serving the most vulnerable in our society. And of course you have to have a balance and of course you have to balance the books. There’s no doubt about that. But let’s also remember that the County Council has had an above-inflation increase in funding from the Labour Government since we came in in ’97.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phil - Im sorry this is patent rubbish - the County Council is still underfunded and you know this full well.Home care charging is part of your Governments policy - they brought out the guidelines and I know you will say what about Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire - Council tax is much higher in these counties than in Lincolnshire.Feel free to campaign next time on increasing everyones Council tax to fund free care and you will get annihialated by the electorate.You will then whinge about the Conservatives means testing so the vulnerable dont pay.That will be rich coming from a supporter of the government that watches,checks,form fills and means tests more than any govt in history.Ms Merron is obviously getting nervous about remaining as Lincolns MP so, like so much labour has done recently she is trying to scare everyone and instil fear,that is shameful and disgraceful and she should know better.

Anonymous said...

Typical of Gillian Merron and the Blair Bitch Project!

fairdealphil said...

anonymous 1:

Reality check.

The truth is Government funding to Lincolnshire was cut in real and absolute terms year on year - in EACH of of the last three years of the last Conservative Government.

With inflation out of control in the 1990s and the second Tory recession biting hard on the economy, that was a double whammy for Lincolnshire.

In contrast, with the Labour Government, the economy has been stabilised. EVERY year with Labour, Lincolnshire has received ABOVE inflation grant from central Government.

That's a double bonus for Lincolnshire.

You are totally blind to reality if you think that Gillian Merron is scaremongering.

It is the Tories who have made the political choice to triple home care charges for some people in Lincolnshire.

It was not mentioned in their manifesto on which they fought the last county elections - that's what's really shameful and disgraceful.

You are of course entitled to support their political decisions - but if four start Labour Derbyshire can provide the same service at NO charge to users, is it not fair to ask why two star Tory Lincolnshire charges £120 a week?

fairdealphil said...

anonymous 2:

Yes, typical that the only Lincolnshire MP standing up for elderly people is the only Labour one...

Anonymous said...

Its just a pitty Labour won't stand up to energy providers who stick prices up every time wholesale prices go up and don't budge when they go down.

My mother daren't even put her gas on sometimes and has to sit at home with extra layers of clothes on instead.

Call that looking after the elderly?

Anonymous said...

Gillian Merron is spot on on this. The County Council are given a pot of money by the Government and they must decide what their priorities are. Clearly time and time again in Lincolnshire it is not the elderly, vulnerable or those with disabilities who are the priority as they slash the budgets to help those who need it most. They have to make a choice and they do - the fact it hurts is not down to the Government but the priorities of Lincolnshire's Tories.

Geoffery Brooking should remind his mother that under Labour she now gets the winter fuel allowance to help her with her heating costs and explain to her that it was the Tories which opposed it. Come on Geoffrey get off you bandwagon and have a bit of consistency are you now really suggesting that there should be state control of prices? Not very free market of you!