What have older people done to deserve this?

IS LABOUR engaged in an undeclared war on older people, as many Silver Voices members believe? Certainly, the evidence is stacking up from their first few months in office. Almost the first policy decision taken after the Labour landslide victory was to scrap the winter fuel payment for more than 10 million pensioners.

- Dennis Reed

This came as a bolt out of the blue and had not been in the party's manifesto, shocking even the most loyal Labour supporters.

Clearly the move had been planned in advance and was designed to show how tough Labour could be in Government. For the relatively small savings that could be accrued, this was a political rather than an economic decision.

The cut has totally backfired as the political backlash over a manifestly cruel policy will now define Labour throughout this Parliament.

The next attack on older people was the decision to break their promise to implement the cap on the lifetime costs of social care, this year.

This limited reform would have gone some way in reducing the number of older people forced to sell their family home in order to cover the costs of residential care.

In opposition, Labour politicians often contrasted the free care available under the NHS for those living with cancer with the astronomical costs for those unlucky enough to have dementia.

Wes Streeting promised during the election campaign to implement the cap.