Pensioner Benefits Or Support For The Young?

By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent

"I'm sorry for people of your generation, but I have to think about my generation - we scrimped and scraped."

As he spoke, Dennis Fuller, a 63-year-old retired postman, placed his hand on the arm of Kishan Patel, 20.

The men were discussing the upcoming Autumn Statement and whether politicians were too focused on the needs of older voters over their younger counterparts.

Mr Fuller defended the decision to spend taxpayer money on universal pensioner benefits that went to everyone, from the poorest to the wealthiest.

"The winter fuel allowance and the freedom pass - they don't cost that much, you know."

Although Mr Fuller doesn't consider himself badly off, he admits that the money towards his fuel bills is a huge help.

Without it he would often think twice about using the heating on cold days, he added.

But he admitted that his generation had benefited from a number of things that Mr Patel's would be unable to, including rising property prices in west London.

"We got a house very cheap for a number of reasons and that was in the mid-seventies. By the time we came to sell it in 2005, it had just exploded profit-wise."

No such luck for Mr Patel who is living with his parents in east London, while he is a studying computing at London South Bank University.

"It doesn't look very like I'll be getting a house very soon. House prices, as you said, dramatically increasing."

Renting is also not an option at the moment. And he argued that his generation had been hit with huge university fees.

"A few years ago uni fees were £3,600 a year. I've just started uni, my course is five years long, uni fees are £9,000. I'm going to be £45,000 worse off and I don't know how I feel about it - I'm not guaranteed a job."

Mr Fuller cut in: "You have my sympathy because I think it's ridiculous that they've brought in these fees. How are you expected to pay that back, achieve getting a mortgage, paying rent. It is not feasible."

The former postman said he couldn't "live" with such a massive debt hanging over him. But he asked why it was a choice between pensioner benefits and support for the young.

The Government could spend less on wars such as that in Libya, he added.

Mr Patel argued the problem was that "young people don't vote enough".

That is why he is running a campaign to try to drive up voter registration among young people using online resources such as social media.

He has been chosen by the charity Uprising that focuses on young people from under-represented backgrounds who have leadership potential.

"If you look at the Scottish referendum, a whole bunch of 16 to 18s got involved because they felt included, they had a responsibility," he said.

"If you do reduce the vote to 16, it's not a bad thing - it comes down to political generation."

Mr Fuller said he supported his campaign "from the bottom of my heart".

After all, he is someone who has voted in every general election and all council elections apart from one when he was moving house.

:: Watch Sky News for the Chancellor's Autumn Statement live on Wednesday, 3 December, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.