07.01.13
Mid-term review to pledge support for elderly care
The Coalition is “steadfast and united”, Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg have announced ahead of their mid-term review.
The review will cover the Coalition’s successes in meeting their pledges, and commit to further reforms. These will include helping families with childcare costs, and could see the Government offering financial support for working parents with children under five.
An improved state pension and help towards the cost of long-term care will also be announced, following the Dilnot review which recommended a £30,000 cap on lifetime costs. Precise details will be announced later.
Cameron and Clegg wrote in a joint foreword to the review: “We are dealing with the deficit, rebuilding the economy, reforming welfare and education and supporting hard-working families through tough times. And on all of these key aims, our parties, after 32 months of coalition, remain steadfast and united.
“Of course there have been some issues on which we have not seen eye to eye, and no doubt there will be more. That is the nature of coalition.
“But on the things that matter most – the big structural reforms needed to secure our country's long-term future – our resolve and sense of shared purpose have, if anything, grown over time.
“We will support working families with their childcare costs. We will build more houses and make the dream of home ownership a reality for more people. We will set out plans for long-term investment in Britain's transport infrastructure. We will set out two big reforms to provide dignity in old age: an improved state pension that rewards saving, and more help with the costs of long-term care.
“And as we take these steps to reshape the British state for the 21st century, we will take further steps to limit its scope and extend our freedoms. We will be making announcements about each of these policy initiatives in due course.
“Our mission is clear: to get Britain living within its means and earning its way in the world once again.”
Achievements so far include council tax freezes, tougher school standards and increases in the personal tax allowance, Clegg and Cameron said.
“Two-and-a-half years ago, our parties came together in the national interest and formed a coalition at a time of real economic danger. The deficit was spiralling out of control, confidence was plummeting, and the world was looking to Britain with growing anxiety about our ability to service our debts.
“This government's most urgent job was to restore stability in our public finances and confidence in the British economy. In just two years we have cut the deficit by a quarter and have set out a credible path towards our goal to balance the current budget over the economic cycle.”
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