THE SENIOR CITIZENS PARTY’S LOCAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
"Before each election we forward a copy of our 10-point "Mini-Manifesto" to all the main parties and invite them to submit their comments which are then circulated to our members. The results were as follows: the SNP came top with 7.5 out of 10, closely followed by Plaid Cymru with 7. The LibDems came third. The Conservative Party refused to comment, and the Labour Party did not bother to reply at all ! When will they learn that: “He who wins the Senior vote wins the election.”
The SCP Mini-Manifesto is printed on our “Welcome Page”. The responses of the other parties are printed below in rank order:
Senior Citizens Party – Manifesto points and responses
1. Central Government should abandon its policy of centralisation and return local government to local people. 70% of the electorate do not bother to vote at local elections because they feel that local government is powerless to bring about the changes that they want to see.
SNP An SNP government would allow councils more freedom to deliver national priorities in a way that reflects local needs, not the requirements of central government.
Plaid Cymru We believe in devolution, and believe that government should be exercised at a local level with real and meaningful power exercised by representatives elected by a democratic electoral process (STV).
2. The unfair Council Tax should be abolished and replaced with a system which takes account of people's ability to pay such as a Local Income Tax (as recommended by the Layfield Commission in 1976).
SNP An SNP government will abolish the council tax and replace it with a lower local income tax set at 3p. We will reduce the overall amount to be collected in local taxation by £450 million. 9 out of 10 pensioners will pay no local tax or less than they pay now.
Plaid Cymru We agree. We believe that Council Tax should be scrapped and replaced by local income tax.
3. One-Stop Local Government (Unitary Authorities) should be introduced throughout the UK to replace the current widely differing systems which increase complexity and decrease popular understanding.
SNP Scotland already has unitary authorities.
Plaid Cymru We campaigned for unitary authorities in Wales and they have been in place since 1995. We believe this is the most effective system of local government.
4. Annual Local Government elections should be introduced throughout the UK where one third of the councillors retire each year. This ensures that all voters are reminded of their democratic responsibilities every year and gives them an opportunity to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their elected representatives.
SNP Annual elections could undermine the strategic ability of local authorities to plan and fund local services effectively. Scottish local authorities operate on the basis of 3-year revenue grant settlements and supported capital borrowing allocations. The SNP has no plans to alter this arrangement.
Plaid Cymru We do not necessarily agree in annual elections, particularly if you are electing via STV. It is in our view to ensure that every vote is meaningful and counts. One meaningful vote every four years is better than four votes which won’t change anything.
5. To prevent electoral fraud each resident over 17 should be required to submit a separate registration form which would include his or her date of birth and signature.
SNP The current system allows the opportunity for electoral fraud and measures should be taken towards individual registration.
Plaid Cymru We support individual registration and are disappointed that the Labour Party for party political reasons have failed to support it.
6. Procedures should be introduced, with appropriate security measures, to allow residents to vote personally, by post, by telephone or via the internet.
SNP The Electoral Commission should explore, as a priority, the potential for telephone, text and internet voting, taking account of the necessary security required for each. This would not in any way reduce the opportunity to vote in person or by post.
Plaid Cymru We have supported innovation in voting methods, however these must be secure and look forward to the Electoral Commission evaluations of the ongoing pilot schemes.
7. To increase the current very limited choice the Additional Member system as used in Scotland and Wales should be introduced to allow voters the possibility of voting both for a local candidate and for a party, with the party votes being used to ensure that the elected council is genuinely representative of the voters wishes.
SNP The SNP supports the single transferable vote (STV) system of proportional representation, which is being introduced for local authority elections, for all elections in Scotland.
Plaid Cymru We do not support AMS, rather we support STV as a better system. We should also note that AMS is generally incompatible with annual elections.
8. Mayors, Chief Constables and Chief Executives of NHS Trusts should be directly elected every four years. Candidates should put forward their own manifestos and budgets.
SNP The SNP will introduce elections to health boards. There is considerable popular support for this.
Plaid Cymru We believe that there is some scope for extending the democratic basis of organisations such as integrated health and social care boards. However we would not support moves towards an American system where key public service posts are won by those with the deepest pockets rather than the most appropriate skills. There must be democratic accountability, but this is not necessarily achieved most effectively by election.
9. The income from Business Rates should be restored to Local Councils who should be allowed to set the rates up to, but not higher than, the domestic rates. This gives councils a genuine incentive to support and encourage local businesses.
SNP The SNP’s policy is to cut business rates for small businesses, as key drivers of local economies. We will abolish business rates for 120,000 small firms across Scotland and reduce them for 30,000 others.
Plaid Cymru We believe that local businesses should be encouraged and a key plank of our manifesto is a significant reduction in business rates for small and medium sized business who should be supported in their development.
10. Central Government must provide adequate ring-fenced funding for Seniors, the Disabled and Young People aged 14-18 in accordance with the numbers resident in the appropriate Local Council area. They must only be allowed to impose additional responsibilities on Local Government if they are fully funded and approved as such by the National Audit Office.
SNP An SNP government will establish a model of local government funding that is transparent and predictable by drawing up a concordat with local authorities to ensure that no new duties are imposed by the Scottish Executive unless accompanied by adequate funding, as determined by Audit Scotland. In return we will expect financial transparency from councils. While there are particular budgets that should be ring fenced, this should be the exception rather than the rule.
Plaid Cymru We have criticised the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government for introducing new duties on councils in a range of areas and failing to provide adequate funding to meet these duties. We believe that government should provide extra funding for government initiatives and this is the basis upon which we have costed our manifesto.
Sir Menzies Campbell, LibDem Party Leader, sent the following personal letter in response:
Dear Mr Leon-Smith,
Thank you for your email of the 25th April regarding the Liberal Democrat Party's proposals for senior citizens.
First, let me reiterate my commitment to scrapping the unfair council tax and replacing it with a local income tax based on a person's ability to pay. Under my leadership the Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign against this regressive tax which often hits pensioners the hardest. Rather than tinkering around the edges, we believe it should be abolished.
Second, I believe we are the Party with the most progressive and thorough pension policy. We propose to introduce a universal, non-contributory Citizen's Pension to all pensioners over state pension age, which will be based on a residency test. This will particularly benefit women, as the current system discriminates against those who stay at home to care for their children and/or work part time, and who have patchy NI contributions.
The Citizen's Pension will be paid at the level of the 'Guarantee Credit' part of the Pension Credit and will be increased in line with average earnings to ensure that its real value is protected. This will ensure that pensioners can genuinely share in the growing wealth of the nation. Single pensioners over 65 would therefore receive a current increase of more than £100 per month, and pensioner couples would receive an increase of more than £140 per month. The Citizen's Pension will also float people off the Pension Credit and so dramatically reduce the number of pensioners forced into the scope of the means-test.
With regard to marriage incentives, I do not believe this is the best way to help support families. Lone parenthood and teenage pregnancy are frequently accompanied by poor skills and poor aspirations. The government must tackle poverty amongst deprived communities in order to prevent youngsters seeing early parenthood as an attractive alternative to dead end jobs. However, we must also be sure that government policy does not penalise marriage through the tax system. In a recent speech on poverty I stated that:
"The benefits system includes perverse and undesirable incentives. Today's tax credits system penalises people who are married or live together, and gives less help per person to two parent families than to lone parent families. It is a consequence we now have more people claiming tax credits as lone parents than there are lone parents. It is madness to design a tax and benefits system which penalizes those who wish to live together. And it undermines the effort to cut child poverty. So, I am asking our working group to look at three changes in this area."
The Party is currently undergoing an extensive Policy Consultation on Health and Social Care. The Working Group is chaired by Baroness Julia Neuberger. The health of our nation and the state of the NHS are top priorities for the Liberal Democrats. Access to health care is an issue of social justice and our goal is quality health services in every community, free at the point of delivery, on the basis of need not on the basis of ability to pay. Within the remit of the working group is the reform of the procedures for assessing clinical and cost effectiveness of drugs and other treatments, and for determining availability of and access to such treatments. For further information please see our consultation page: http://consult.libdems.org.uk/health/
I am not persuaded about the need for a Shadow Minister for Older People. We need policies that are global in effect and do not ghettoise any section of the community.
Thank you once again for your correspondence.
Yours sincerely, Menzies Campbell