THE BBC programme Panorama recently had an investigation which revealed care firms have cancelled contracts with 95 UK councils, saying they cannot deliver services for the amount they are being paid and firms are unable to recruit or train the staff they need.

The Local Government Association has said it is the result of historic underfunding and an ageing population.

We are staring down the barrel of a social care crisis and the only way to fix it is proper investment.

It is ludicrous that the Government keeps starving councils of funding and still expects them to deliver high quality social care and other vital services.

The £2bn over three years added in the budget for social care is simply not enough to sustain a system that is already on the verge of collapse because of the Government’s failure to act.

Proper social care for the elderly should be a red line.

The Green Party is the only party proposing that we make the right choice to invest in a secure future for our older people with free social care for everyone over 65.

Eva Ward Green county council candidate for Stroud Central