Britain must make more of its growing population of older people, Charles Kennedy has said.

Addressing a Friends of the Elderly conference in London on Thursday, the Liberal Democrat leader called for a new approach to engaging with those who have retired from work.

He pointed to estimates that by 2020 around 40 per cent of the population will be aged over 50, a sharp rise from the current level of around 32 per cent.

"The politics of the coming decades will be dominated by the 11 million baby boomers who are moving from the world of work into the world of retirement," said Kennedy.

"This is a generation, which reached adulthood in the sixties, and is by nature individualistic, demanding and assertive.  These are not people who will grow old quietly."

The Lib Dem leader said the country should see its older population as "a resource" and provide new opportunities for part-time work and volunteering.

"The needs of active older people have not had the attention they deserve from government," he added.

Lib Dem plans

Kennedy said the Liberal Democrats were reviewing their policy towards older people and would consider new ways of combating age discrimination.

There would also be "a new focus for the NHS so that it adapts to being, not only an emergency service, but a prevention service too".

And he described as "crazy" Inland Revenue rules which stop people working for a company that is paying them a pension.

"We need to change the rules so that people can carry on working part-time and still receive a pension from their company," Kennedy said.

"This will allow people gradually to wind down their work with the comfort of some of the pension they have earned."

The Lib Dem chief said the initiatives would "form part of an overhaul of the way we think about ageing and meet the growing aspirations of active older people in Britain".

Grey vote

Responding to the speech, Gordon Lishman of Age Concern England backed the call for politicians of all parties to consider the views of older people.

And he warned politicians that older voters "are particularly influential in elections".

"They are more likely than any other age group to turn out and vote  - over 55s will be twice as likely to vote in this summer's European' elections for example - and babyboomers in particular have shown a tendency to switch their vote," Lishman said.

"Any party that wants babyboomer votes will have to demonstrate they are listening to this age group's concerns about money, age discrimination and social care in later life.

"Parties who ignore their demands do so at their peril - the babyboomers are likely to punish them at the ballot box."