Miliband To Face The People

Ed Miliband is to face direct questions from members of the public at Labour's national conference next week as part of his effort to show that the party is listening to ordinary people.












Some 2,000 members of the public, recruited through the local media, have been invited to submit questions on any subject which will be put to the Labour leader without any pre-checking, said party sources.

The question-and-answer session on Wednesday comes as Mr Miliband seeks to change the party's rulebook to allow non-members to take part in the election of future leaders by becoming "registered supporters".

The Labour leader hopes to secure the change at an eve-of-conference meeting of the ruling National Executive Committee on Saturday, when he will also push for the abolition of elections to the shadow cabinet.

In a foreword to the conference agenda, Mr Miliband argues that the party must use next week's gathering - taking place in Liverpool under the slogan Fulfilling the Promise of Britain - to show it has "the confidence to change".

In his keynote speech on Tuesday, he will tell his party that it is time to "rip up the rulebook" in order to challenge an economic and political settlement that has become the consensus over the past decades.

In a video message to supporters, Mr Miliband said there is a "quiet crisis" among the "hard-working people of Britain" over living standards, worries about their children's futures and irresponsibility in society.

He said: "We've got to change those things - we've got to do it by taking on the vested interests that hold our country back, from the banks to the energy companies. We've got to stand up for the grafters, the hard-working majority in Britain."

Writing in the conference magazine, Mr Miliband accused the Conservatives of being "out of touch" with ordinary people and too close to a "powerful and privileged few", of making "reckless choices" on issues such as NHS reform and the cuts programme and having "no vision for a better Britain".

"It is up to Labour to be the voice of those families whose living standards are being squeezed ever tighter, who worry that their children will find it tougher to get on in life and feel angry that irresponsible behaviour is rewarded," wrote Mr Miliband.

UK Elderly Fourth Poorest In EU As Third Of British Over-65s Live In Poverty

Campaigners have called for urgent action to stamp out pensioner poverty after a report found nearly a third of British over-65s are living on below average incomes.

The European Commission statistics, published by Eurostat, place the UK's elderly among the worst in Europe, with 30 per cent living on incomes far below the national average.

This was the fourth highest level in Europe, better than only Cyprus, Latvia and Estonia, the figures showed.













European Commission figures revealed 30 per cent of Britain over-65s are living in poverty, with UK elderly the fourth poorest in the EU.

Age Concern and Help the Aged called for ministers to act through measures such as reforming the benefits and pension system.

The figures come ahead of the Work and Pension Committee's review of government efforts to tackle pensioner poverty, which is published on Thursday.

The EU research, which compared relative poverty in the 27 member states, showed nearly one in three UK over-65s were at risk of poverty in 2007, the same proportion as in Lithuania (30 per cent).

It revealed that in most leading European economies, pensioner poverty levels were either below or slightly above the EU average of 19 per cent.

British pensioners were worse off than Romania, where 19 per cent fell below the poverty threshold, Poland (8 per cent) and France (13 per cent).

Pensioners in the Czech Republic were least likely to be living in poverty, with 5 per cent below the threshold of an income of 60 per cent of the national median, according to the figures.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director for Age Concern and Help the Aged, said: 'What this report clearly shows is that, even before the recession sets in, many older people weren't keeping up with the pace at which the general wealth of the nation has increased over the past years.

'This means they risk being increasingly excluded from community life.

'In a country where the richest have incomes five times higher than the poorest, older people are disproportionately bearing the burden of this inequality.

'To lift millions of pensioners out of poverty and prevent this situation from getting worse in the future, this government and the next must find a more effective system to ensure benefits reach those who need them and mee the existing commitment to reform the pension system by 2012.'

Recent research by the charity showed one in five people aged 60 and over are skipping meals to save money on food, while two-fifths are struggling to afford essential items.

Number Of Pensioners In Poverty Rises For First Time In Decade

The number of pensioners living in poverty has risen for the first time in a decade, new figures show.











Official statistics show that 200,000 more elderly people were classed as poor in 2006-7 than the previous year, leaving almost one in three in poverty.

It comes amid record food, fuel and council bills, which are rising at a faster rate than pensions and leaving increasing numbers struggling to cope.

The figures also showed that the number of poor children has risen for the second year running by 100,000, with a third now living below the poverty line.

Campaigners said it was a "moral disgrace" that so many people are unable to make ends meet in one of the world's richest countries, and called on the Government to make sure the poorest pensioners receive the benefits they deserve.

Gordon Lishman, director-general of Age Concern, said: "It is a national disgrace that pensioner poverty levels have begun to rise.

"Older people have been hit particularly hard as living costs have gone through the roof - half of those affected by fuel poverty alone are pensioners."

Mervyn Kohler, special adviser for Help the Aged, added: "When older people live on a fixed income it is virtually impossible for them to pull themselves out of poverty.

"Pensioners often have to cut back on essential household items just to survive. This is a disgrace."

A household is deemed to be below the poverty line if its income is less than 60 per cent of the national median. For the latest figures, this means that a couple with no children who earn less than £226 a week are classed as poor.

When Labour came to power in 1997, there were 2.9 million poor pensioners after rent and mortgage costs are accounted for.

This figure which had been reduced to 1.8 million last year but which now stands at 2.1 million.

When looked at before housing costs are taken into account, the number of poor pensioners is the same now (2.5 million) as it was when Labour came to power and is higher than it was in the mid-1990s.

There were 4.2 million children classed as poor in 1997. By 2005, after a decade of pledges and new benefits systems intended to cut poverty, the number of poor children had been cut to 3.6 million.

But last year the figure rose by 100,000, and this year it has risen again. It is now at the same level as it was five years ago.

In 1999 Labour pledged to halve poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.

Ministers admitted the numbers published by the Department for Work and Pensions were "disappointing" but insisted they would drop next year once increases in benefits announced in last year's Budget take effect.

Stephen Timms, the Employment and Welfare Reform Minister, said: "We are committed to tackling poverty and providing opportunity for all and these figures confer with the very substantial progress over the last decade to large numbers of pensioners and children lifted out of poverty in relative and absolute terms.

"But we have heard that over the last year or two we have on some levels slipped back."

It was also claimed that the number of poor pensioners may have increased because the impact of a one-off £200 payment to help with council tax bills made in 2005 had now ended.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Chris Grayling, said: "These figures are proof, if ever proof was needed, that Gordon Brown and his Government have quite simply run out of steam and run out of ideas."

How We Treat Old People Makes Us No Better Than The Third World

Panorama exposes the sadistic abuse of young people with learning ­difficulties in a Bristol “care” home. Ruthless City sharks asset-strip a care home company, threatening the lives of 31,000 elderly people.

And we call ourselves a ­civilised country? When the elderly and vulnerable are treated like ­sub-humans, we are no better than a Third World hellhole.

If you think I’m exaggerating, watch Panorama’s shocking ­undercover report into ­Winterbourne View Care Home on BBC iPlayer or YouTube.



Until you see the secret footage it’s impossible to ­understand the depths of depravity. This isn’t just abuse. It’s sadism.

A young patient called Simone is shown being thrown to the floor and drenched with cold water while her abusers stand laughing. The gang of bullies then turn a fan on her until she ­shivers ­violently. When ­Simone refuses to take a pill, she is wrestled to the floor and her mouth is forced open. It is heartbreaking to watch this ­helpless young woman shaking with terror at the hands of these care home Nazis.

Patients like Simone were sent to the Winterbourne home ­because they couldn’t cope on their own. This is why £4­million a year of taxpayers’ money is poured into this “care” facility.

It was supposed to offer the latest therapies, but instead ­tortured its patients.

This sadism would not have happened if the quango paid to inspect these homes had been doing its job.

But it turns out the Care ­Quality Commission was too busy ticking bureaucratic boxes to check on the patients at ­Winterbourne, and God knows where else.

Inspectors were so desk-bound they failed to do ­random inspections to make sure vulnerable patients were given the best possible care. It’s a story you hear ­repeatedly in our social services.

What kind of ­lunacy puts ­administration above care?

Thanks to Tory ­cutbacks in welfare, there are already fewer inspectors to go around. Who’s going to save girls like Simone now?

Instead of figuring out how to offer the best care to the most needy, welfare under this ­Government is going from bad to worse. The UK’s biggest care home company for the elderly, Southern Cross Healthcare, has gone into financial meltdown putting 31,000 old people at risk.

This isn’t just a case of stupid mismanagement. The failure of this company is down to the greed of venture capitalists who bought the ­company, stripped its assets and left the elderly in its care to rot without a second thought.

Now the taxpayer will once again step in with a bail-out.

What’s a Big Society if it doesn’t offer proper care to the elderly and vulnerable?

But David Cameron is still ­hell-bent on privatising parts of the NHS, auctioning off healthcare services to the bloke with the fattest chequebook. No prizes for guessing who’ll bail them out again when it all goes wrong.