Gordon Brown: "We must put pensioners first"
January 2006

Chancellor Gordon Brown MP meets members of the Streatham Friendly Club

Gordon Brown has praised Lambeth Labour councillors for their plans to help elderly people living in Lambeth should they win control of Lambeth council at the May elections. The Chancellor made his comments whilst visiting elderly members of the “Streatham Friendly Club” at Streatham Baptist Church. He used the visit to emphasise the need for central and local Government to work together to improve services for the elderly.

Labour Councillors are planning to make older people’s services more accessible by introducing new centres bringing together GPs, advisers, health and social activities. They will also bring in a ‘gold service’ repairs hotline for over-65s offering priority advice or support at home when things go wrong.

Many people also suffer in old age because they no longer have networks of family and friends to support them. To tackle this Lambeth Labour councillors will introduce a befriending scheme for isolated elderly people. They will also improve the direct payments scheme to give older and disabled people more control over who provides home services to them.

Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:

Streatham South Councillors meet Chancellor Gordon Brown MP

“Providing help and support to pensioners must be one of our first priorities, and central and local government must work together in that effort.

“It is Lambeth’s Labour Councillors who are ready to deliver genuine improvements in council services for pensioners, adding to the support we are offering centrally through the Pension Credit, the Winter Fuel Allowance, and the Warm Front programme to install free and discounted central heating and insulation in all pensioner homes that need it.”

Cllr Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Labour Group said:

"The Lib Dems and Tories who run Lambeth have cut services for the elderly and have failed to work with the Government. A Labour Council working with a Labour Government would be able to deliver higher quality and more accessible services for older people in Lambeth.”

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