Alongside local councillors, I visited Bramley Lawns Day Care Centre today. Like other day care centres across the city, Bramley Lawns offers a vital service to local people who rely on the centre for company and stimulation.

What day centres like Bramley Lawns do is fight the exclusion that older people routinely face in modern society. This work is increasingly important when you consider our ageing population, and the fact that 2m older people live in poverty. I am more and more concerned at the plans of Tory led Leeds City Council to close a number of these centres, including Bramley Lawns.

Instead of reinforcing the idea that older people in our community are invisible and insignificant, we should be helping everyone enjoy the same opportunities. A simple chance to socialise on a regular basis does not sound like a lot. But depriving people of that opportunity has huge ramifications. Connecting everyone with their community can bring untold benefits, benefits that will be lost if we enter a Tory led age of austerity.