New Labour and the Tories have entered into a cut-price bidding war designed to demonstrate who cares most about the elderly. Barely a day passes without one of the parties trying to up the stakes again by announcing another initiative ostensibly designed to benefit pensioners. When so many politicians and pundits seem obsessed with rooting out the slightest trace of 'sleaze' in UK politics, it is a wonder that more of them are not up in arms about this all-party attempt to buy pensioners' votes with crude bribes. Of course, the chancellor of the exchequer is not Mohammed Al Fayed, and the Treasury is not actually handing out manilla envelopes full of cash. It is not hard to see why the parties are keen to pass off these rather miserly concessions as the height of generosity.
All sides see the 'grey vote' as a key factor in the coming general election.
In demographic terms, there are more pensioners than ever before. An estimated 11 million voters will be aged over 54 in the election. And in terms of the democratic process, these people are more likely to turn out and vote than younger generations. It has been estimated that the over-55s could account for around 40 percent of the vote in some marginal seats. But the survey also suggests that the proportion of pensioners voting will be the same as last time.