Pat McFadden Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East Pat McFadden MP for Wolverhampton South East
The announcement that free TV licences for the over-75s will be scrapped comes as devastating news. This announcement will cost 3,390 households in my constituency just over £150 a year. Collectively, those pensioners will be paying half a million pounds more to watch TV than they are today. Just because some pensioners do not receive Pension credit it does not mean they are well off. There are hundreds of thousands of pensioners entitled to Pension Credit who don’t receive it and many others who will be just above the income line but who won’t be well off. This is why I have signed Age UK’s petition to save the TV licences for the over-75s and I would encourage you to sign it too (follow the link attached below):
https://campaigns.ageuk.org.uk/page/34266/petition/1?en_chan=fb&locale=en-GB&ea.tracking.id=ztag32cf&fbclid=IwAR1TbnM2ZUVggiJkE3LpXb_VZ1T9dPWbWNzmxMGPjzRPdk_mflpu_YoPYJ0
The Free TV licence for the over 75s was introduced by the Labour Government as a welfare benefit and it should continue to be a welfare benefit. Giving it to the BBC was what we would call in football a hospital pass. It’s a very big chunk of their budget and once it was passed over it placed the benefit on very shaky ground. The Government can’t get away with blaming the BBC for this. It is the Government’s responsibility but it will be pensioners who will pay the price.