London - The Conservatives yesterday stepped up their drive to secure the "grey vote" for the Tory cause by unveiling a package of proposals priced at £60 million designed to give pensioners greater independence.
The centrepiece was a £40 million scheme to restore the war widow's pension to 2,500 women who forfeited the benefit by re-marrying.
But the Tory announcement, just a few days after the party leader, Mr William Hague, unveiled plans to raise the basic state pension by up to £10-a-week, prompted renewed accusations from the government and Liberal Democrats of political opportunism.
