Pre Budget Report Good News For Pensioners And Young People Says Local MP

Warrington North MP HELEN JONES  today welcomed the Pre-Budget Report unveiled by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown as

“good news for our pensioners and young people."

The main points in the Chancellor’s statement included:

• a continuation of Winter Fuel Payments of £200 for households with someone aged 60 or over, and £300 for households with someone aged 80 or over, for the rest of this Parliament;
• an additional £300 million over three years to enable pensioners on Pension Credit who do not have central heating to have it installed free of charge and to provide a £300 discount on central heating for all other pensioners;
• an additional £53 million to expand Youth Opportunity Funds,  enabling young people to secure the amenities and activities they want in each local authority with an average local authority receiving £500,000 over the next two years.

Speaking at Westminster following the Chancellor’s statement HELEN

JONES said:

“This is good news for our pensioners and young people.

The Winter Fuel Allowance will continue to be paid throughout this Parliament. Coupled to that the free installation of central heating for pensioners on pension credit and a £300 discount for all other pensioners will help tackle fuel poverty. This is most welcome news for the fifteen and a half thousand pensions in my constituency.

The resources for a young people’s fund for each local authority can only strengthen our local communities with more activities for our young people, decided, as I have long argued, by our young people.

These measures can only be announced because of the stable economic platform created by Gordon Brown which has seen low inflation, low interest rates, and low unemployment. How different that is from previous Tory Chancellors who presided over inflation rates of nearly 10%, unemployment rates of 3 million plus,  and interest rates of 15% which caused so much hardship as people struggled to maintain their mortgage payments."