I agree that we have only got ourselves into this situation because we have been living beyond our means.

Do you have or could you give the power to grant old fashioned Council Mortgages?

How about introducing a discount for over 60's who pay all Council tax in advance. You do still have this power?

What else can the Council do for the elders - probably your main voters?

George, apologies for not responsding to your posting earlier. However, the questions you raised required my thorough and considered response which is as follows
This Council will not be getting into the mortgage market to provide traditional mortgages, as we do not want to put Council taxpayers' money at risk. We believe there are better ways to help people onto the housing market, such as thriough the provision of affordable homes.

We are doing our best to keep Council Tax as low as possible for all Council taxpayers. After 12 years under Labour when Council Tax went up 10% per year on average (48% in labour's last four years alone) the Conservative administration has kept increases below inflation and we will continue to do so. The difficulty with providing discounts to specific groups is that it would mean we would have to raise Council tax for other people to pay for it.

The Council is doing a great deal to improve services for the elderly in Ealing. Our independence agenda focuses on helping people live in their homes longer. In the current financial year we put in £2.5 M to help people pay for adaptations to their homes making them safer, improving their heating or make their kitchens and bathrooms easier to use. We have cut the price of meals on wheels by 50p, and have said not to excessive rises in Council tax.