Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for a tax on the wealthiest instead of cutting support for “struggling pensioners”.
Speaking after arriving at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski, Sir Ed said his party is the only one offering up a solution on how to “plug the awful financial mess the Conservatives left us with”.
More than 10 million pensioners will lose winter fuel payments under government plans which have been heavily criticised by opposition MPs, some Labour MPs and charities.
Sir Ed told Sky News he would have levied a capital gains tax against the wealthiest instead.
“The Conservatives won’t admit there’s a problem, there is a problem, the financial deficit is large, the Conservatives ran the budget in a very bad way, there needs to be a solution to that,” he said.
“But withdrawing winter fuel payments from struggling pensioners isn’t the solution so we’ve put forward in the House of Commons our solution.
“We’ve said, look at the capital gains tax on the very, very wealthiest.
“So there are alternatives to this. The government doesn’t have to do this.
“It has to clear up the Conservatives’ mess. But there are other ways, much fairer ways to do that.”
Sir Ed said his party would also reverse the tax cut the Conservatives gave banks “to deal with the deficit and avoid these painful policies”.
He said it is possible to give the winter fuel payments to all but the wealthiest pensioners and this has been done before with child benefit.
“But that’s not what the government are proposing,” he added.
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The Lib Dems have pledged to be a “constructive opposition”, choosing to do politics differently from the attack method other parties have chosen to adopt.
“We’re going to be the best opposition in parliament, far better than the Conservatives by being constructive, by putting forward alternatives,” Sir Ed said.
“And I think we’re the only group of people doing that, saying this is where you should get the money from to plug the awful financial mess left by the Conservatives.
“Don’t take it from struggling pensioners.”
On Saturday, Labour’s biggest union backer joined calls for a U-turn on the winter fuel payments cut.
A motion to be submitted to Labour‘s conference by Unite says “workers and communities… voted for a better future, not just better management”.
The union’s motion calls the cuts “cruel” and goes on to say: “We need a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts.”