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'Reluctance to come to the rescue' of the elderly

The former older people’s champion, Joan Bakewell, tells The Westminster Hour that any solution to the problems in the elderly care system “has to cost more” and that “taxes have got to go up” to pay for it.

The broadcaster and Labour peer – who was appointed as the Voice of Older People under Gordon Brown’s government in 2008 – said she could not imagine there being a cross-party agreement on the issue, saying there was a “reluctance to come to the rescue”.

“What prevails", she says, "is the idea that...we’re trying to save as much money for ourselves as possible, and the government is colluding with that.”

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4 minutes