Iain Dale has pointed out an interesting exchange in Westminster Hall on Monday.
Mr. O’Brien: It has been reported to me, although the hon. Lady (Sandra Gidley) might want to suggest that it is a misquote, that at the last Liberal Democrat conference—amazingly, I was not there—the hon. Lady called her party’s policy of free personal care “dishonest”, because people thought that their accommodation costs would also be paid for, which is certainly not the case.
…
Sandra Gidley: The hon. Gentleman has quoted me correctly. I think that we should have been more open about what our policy did. That is the way in which I prefer to do things; it is not the way in which the people who wrote the manifesto try to do things.
Read the exchange in full here
Come on Sandra, if you can put such a claim on the parliamentary record, surely you can tell us specifically who you’re calling a deceiver?
Much hinges on how you define the term “free personal care” – as this remains party policy, can anyone suggest a clearer way of defining our policy?
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6 Comments
Oooh Crikey.
This could get messy.
But I would like to hear Sandra’s views more fully.
Nah, it won’t get nasty – it’s just a very suprising comment. Though as Sandra has said it twice in public, she clearly believes it, and it would be interesting to know why. I’m sure she’ll be happy to expand on and explain what on earth she meant equally publicly.
Basically it seems to hinge on what people interpreted “free personal care” to mean – Sandra appears to think the party was telling people that that meant a retirement home with all bills paid.
In that case I guess Sandra is being a bit naive, that’s all.
Gidley is just wrong IMHO. And she should be on top of her brief but clearly isn’t. I think the main thing about it was that it implemented a particular report (perhaps even Royal Commission) on care of the elderly. It’s as much about making it easier for someone two stay in their own home as anything else.
That commission/report was not about packing anyone who fancied a bit of pampering off into residential care. It’s the same policy for Scotland where it has been implemented. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look north of the border if they’re not sure what “personal care” actually means.
Jock’s right – the phrase “free personal care” does exactly what it says on the tin. We have never claimed that it includes the so-called hotel costs.
care=rent? Nope.