11 January 2010
Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg has told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme that due to the recession they will have to temporarily
shelve some of their policies. Pledges such as extending free
childcare, free personal care for the elderly and a "citizen's
pension" would need to be put on hold. Ahead of a speech setting
out his election priorities, Mr Clegg told the BBC that: "A number
of multi-billion pound policies that we have advocated in the past
we can no longer afford."
Included in this was their citizen's pension. In their policy
document "A Fresh Start for Britain" it was pledged to link the
state pension to average earnings or prices, whichever is higher,
and create a Citizen's Pension based on residency not National
Insurance contributions. However Mr Clegg said that the Citizen's
Pension would: "no longer be firm commitments in our manifesto but
would be put on hold until they become affordable again".
