A group of campaigning pensioners will be launching their efforts to win Bolton’s election candidates round to tackle “housing, climate change and inequality.”
The Bolton and District Pensioners Association will be launching their manifesto from the town hall steps today.
From there, they plan to contact every candidate standing across Bolton’s three constituencies in the run-up to next month’s general election in a bid to win their support for their manifesto.
Association secretary Bernie Gallagher said: “We are a non-party political, independent organisation which wants to see a fair deal for pensioners.
“But our members are also parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
“It is wrong that the younger generation should be worse off than their grandparents and we want to see candidates with a commitment to ending the crisis we have with housing, climate change and wealth inequality.”
The association has become a well-known presence around the borough thanks to its string of high-profile campaigns.
These include the campaign to save Haslam Park in Deane and the campaign to keep ticket offices at train stations open all over the borough.
The groups have also lobbied for free public toilets at Bolton Interchange and for better access to GP surgeries.
Mrs Gallagher said: “Many of us were born before the end of rationing, the country was bankrupt after the Second World War and yet the government of the day founded the NHS to provide a free at the point of service for everyone in need.
“In 2024 we can’t even see a GP within a reasonable period and then it’s often online.
“You are lucky if you can get a NHS dentist and the creeping privatisation only benefits the profiteers.
“In the 35 years after the Second World War, 4.4million social homes to rent were built.
“We are going back to the post-war years of bad landlords demanding high rents for slum properties.”
ALSO READ: Questions over whether shopping centre space will be 'boarded up' after move
ALSO READ: Were 88,000 people 'wrong' to call for town centre landmark to be saved?
ALSO READ: Call for more 'looked after' children provision in Bolton
The group now hopes to find out the views of all the candidates standing in the upcoming general election on all these kinds of issues and what they intend to do about them,
Mrs Gallagher said: “We don’t want copies of their manifesto we want to know what the individuals who intend to represent us think about the big issues facing the country, we want to know their vision and personal priorities.”
The Bolton and District Pensioners Association will launch their manifesto from the steps of Bolton Town Hall at 11am on Wednesday June 5.
The general election will be held on July 4.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel