DC: £59 is not enough - and we have got to do better as a society
£59 is not enough. We have got to do better as a society giving people what we all want. Those that have done the right thing through their lives, we should be giving you dignity and security in old age. I agree we need to up-rate the pension in line with earnings rather than prices. The reason I feel I can give you that answer with total confidence, that we will really deliver this, is we have made a tough decision to go with it. Which is to say from 2016, we are going to ask, starting with men, to retire a year later. That means we can fund this pledge. Because we all know we have an enormous budget deficit, there isn't any money left in the kitty. So if we're going to make promises like that, and it's a big promise, an important promise, we have to say how we are going to pay for it. I want to make sure that when we see people going into old age that if you have worked hard, if you've saved, if you've put money aside, you are not punished. That is why we say as well, it is not right that you should have to pay for your residential care, and someone who didn't do the right thing gets the whole thing paid for free. That's not fair and we are going to change that.

I just think it is disgraceful to try and frighten people in an election campaign, as Gordon Brown has just done, and as the Labour Party are doing up and down the country. I would like to take this opportunity to say very clearly to any pensioner in the audience, anyone listening at home, that we will keep the free television license, we will keep the pension credit, we'll keep the winter fuel allowance, we'll keep the free bus pass. Those leaflets you have been getting from Labour, the letters you have been getting from Labour are pure and simple lies. A politician shouldn't say lies very often, I say it because I have seen the leaflets and they make me really very, very angry. You should not be frightening people in an election campaign, it is just not right.

Immediately related elementsHow this works
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Visualizing the Prime Ministerial Debates »Visualizing the Prime Ministerial Debates
Domestic questions »Domestic questions
F. Is £59 per week a reasonable pension? »F. Is £59 per week a reasonable pension?
DC: £59 is not enough - and we have got to do better as a society
Pledges to refute Labour leaflet lies? »Pledges to refute Labour leaflet lies?
Need to uprate the pension in line with earnings not prices »Need to uprate the pension in line with earnings not prices
Put the budget for care in the hands of the carers »Put the budget for care in the hands of the carers
Those who've done right thing should have dignity/security in old age »Those who've done right thing should have dignity/security in old age
David Cameron (Domestic) »David Cameron (Domestic)
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