Does anyone have any questions that they would really like to ask the local candidates for the election?

By Laura_Spodula at 21:13 on 17/04/10

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Does anyone have any questions that they would really like to ask the local candidates for the election?

By Laura_Spodula at 21:13 on 17/04/10
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Why did the government encourage people to take out pensions with tax concessions and then when you need the money the most the government then tax your pension earnings?

By Edna_W at 18:13 on 19/04/10
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I can't answer for the government, Edna. However, Liberal Democrats would immediately link the state pension to earnings again, and uprate it each year by whichever is the greatest - earnings, prices or 2.5%. We'd also raise the income tax threshold to £10,000. This would take 6,000 low-paid workers in NE Cambridgeshire out of paying income tax altogether, and put around £100 back in the pocket of most pensioners.

Lorna Spenceley
(Liberal Democrat)

By lspenceley at 08:41 on 26/04/10
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Taking low pay workers out of the tax bracket threshold is a good idea,pensioner poverty will become a big problem as the post war child boomers approach retirement age.If we are not careful we will soon have more retirees than workers and the state pension will be at risk.So a better way of funding it other than tax will have to be sort.Robbing peter to pay paul is bad economics,if you ran your house like that you would soon have the baliffs at the door.Wasting billions of pounds trying to stop global warming which is a natural event anyway instead of finding ways to cope with it would be cheaper and easier than trying to stop it.Wasting billions of pounds bombing crap out of nomadic goatherders instead of offering help with rebuilding the country would also be cheaper and alot more rewarding for peace and long term stability.

By specss at 19:41 on 26/04/10
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Hello, specss. We'd fund our tax cuts by several means, including a mansion tax on those whose homes are worth over £2million - which doesn't sound unreasonable to me - and stepping up efforts to combat tax avoidance (we reckon on being able to cut this by about 10 per cent). That's pretty sound economics, as you'd expect from Vince Cable, former Chief Economist at Shell! Many of our policies are intended to 'cope with' climate change, including insulation schemes for homes and schools to reduce energy usage. And our aims in Afghanistan are for a regional solution involving other neighbouring countries, plus strategies to ensure a more legitimate government there and tackle corruption.

By lspenceley at 20:00 on 26/04/10
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What are you doing to attract younger voters?

By Wisbech People at 17:14 on 27/04/10
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I think younger people really are attracting themselves to this election! There has been a real surge in people registering to vote this time, a lot of them in the 18-24 age bracket, which is great. We've been talking about the issues that are important to young people - jobs and apprenticeships, internet access and web blocking, the DNA database and ID cards, student tuition fees among others. Use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and viral adverts has soared in this election - the 'We got Rage Against the Machine to #1, we can get the Lib Dems into office!' website currently has 155,778 members! Turnout on polling day could be higher than for a long time, and I hope a lot of these will be young, first-time voters.

By lspenceley at 07:31 on 28/04/10
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A lot could be learnt by the goverment from the charity SEND A COW which targets needs, why give a cow when a goat would be much better. Do parents who can afford to send there children to private school need child allownce? I doubt it. Do working parents need afordable child care? I would think so. The welfare state is a wonderful thing but it needs to target the right people, at the moment every body is caught in the same net with means testing that is so confusing many in real need just give up in dispair, i know you have to have safe guards because there will always be people who take advantage but there must be a better way.

By specss at 17:45 on 28/04/10
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I agree that it's much better to have a system in which people are helped and supported in a way that meets their needs, rather than what the government thinks are their needs. And having helped people before with claims for job seekers allowance and other benefits, I'm horrified at the amount and complexity of the paperwork. Our tax plans would take 6,000 low paid workers in North East Cambridgeshire out of paying income tax altogether, and put £700 back in the pockets of most working people, with £100 for pensioners. That all helps people make their own choices in life. Systems like tax credits are very complex and need to be reformed. One of the worst things is when the state overpays people's tax credits and they then face having to pay them back, through no fault of their own. We'd fix these payments for six months at a time, to give people a much better chance of knowing where they stand.

By lspenceley at 14:53 on 29/04/10
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Hi Edna,
I was asked to respond as the Labour candidate to your question on pensions. As with pension policy in most other OECD countries, pensions are income, and income is taxable. Pensioners may receive the State Pension and State Second Pension (or any of it's forerunners) and occupational/personal/private pensions. The latter three attract tax relief and lump sums paid on retirement are not taxable. State Pensions are paid without deduction of Income Tax, the tax due on State Pensions is collected from other pension payments. The current personal allowances are 1 (basic) £6,475 income limit £100,00 2. Age 65-74 £9,490 income limit £22,900 and 3. Age 75+ £9,640 income limit £22,900. Where income exceeds the threshold, the personal allowance is reduced by £1 for each £2 of income. For example, if the pensioner's income is £23,400 (£500 over the threshold) the personal allowance would be reduced by £250. There is also a Married Couple's Allowance for those married or living together. The hope is that by providing tax relief at the beginning the pension amount will be allowed to grow, for example it might be linked to the stock market, and on payment it will be worth more at the point of tax (for both the taxable amount and the net amount to the individual).

We are supporting the elderly with measures such as an increase in the State Pension (linking it to earnings from 2012 – a link broken by the Conservatives), Pension Credits (for those who qualify) and Winter Fuel Payments - which have helped 900,000 pensioners out of poverty since 1997. The WFP (£250/£400 - latter for over 80s) are currently guaranteed for another year so 9 million pensioner households will receive at least £250 during the past winter to help settle bills.

We want to make it easier for pensioners to work so we have promised a review of the retirement age, and whether or not people should be allowed to retire at a time that suits them best - whether this means scrapping the default retirement age we will have to see, a review might raise the age or give employees stronger rights. On a side note we are also offering a National Care Service, but in reality cross-party consensus on the issue of care needs to be sort by each of us. We also introduced free bus passes and free swimming for the elderly - which are widely regarded as positive move.

Lastly, taking into account women and equality we have streamlined the NI contribution process so for the first time women who have had children have a secure and easy route to claiming full State Pension on retirement - mainly because taking time out of NI contributions adversely discriminated again women's ability to make up the prerequisite contribution years.

By RobertsLabour at 22:22 on 03/05/10
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I would add reading the Lib Dem candidate’s message that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (April 2010) report into their pledge on £10,000 states it is a flawed policy as a means to help the poor. The independent report states clearly, "it is less clear that the [Lib Dem] proposal to increase the income tax personal allowance to £10,000 will help many in the poorest households, as the poorest fifth of households will contain those with incomes too low to pay income tax. The largest beneficiaries of the higher personal allowance will be families with two earners (where both earn less than £100,000 - it's a very inefficient way of helping the poorest, and in relative terms the poorest with not be the big gainers from it".

By RobertsLabour at 22:30 on 03/05/10
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On the question of young voters - I will try and keep this one brief!
We as politicians need to find areas to connect with younger people who are often more interested in ad hoc single issue campaigns rather than party politics. Several of the young people we have signed up in this campaign have come from the Oxfam's Robin Hood tax campaign and Global Poverty Project - we wouldn't have got these new members if we didn't take up issues, such as international development, during our campaign.
I'm a firm believer in finding common ground and building relationships from there - we've got a great bunch of young local people who have joined in since the beginning of the General Election, some through talking in schools and others off the back of making sure they feel their views are valued, and that they can make a contribution. I would be lying if I said it wasn't an uphill struggle most of the time, it is sad that I am an anomaly being relatively young and involved in politics.
We each have to make politics more engaging and less male, pale and stale. One thing that is unquestionably true is the Fens has a great deal of amazing youngsters who don’t match the media hatched vision of lazy carefree teenagers.

By RobertsLabour at 22:41 on 03/05/10
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In my pension response swap *'sort' for *'sought'!

By RobertsLabour at 22:45 on 03/05/10
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