No wonder Theresa May had to U-turn on her ill-conceived policy

SIR – Theresa May’s plan for elderly care seems itself to have suffered from a lack of care before its inclusion in the Conservative manifesto. No wonder – senior ministers are reported to have known nothing about it before its publication. That in itself gives me great concern. Whatever she may think, Mrs May is not standing for president.

The plan was bizarre. Accumulate an estate of £100,000 and dementia care is free and you can keep your full £100,000.

Work hard, take risk, start a company, buy a house, invest and save maybe £2,000,000 and still only £100,000 (5 per cent) is safeguarded.

My view of Mrs May has changed. Ralph Griffiths

New Malden, Surrey

SIR – A mere four days after putting her “dementia tax” into the Tory manifesto, as its centrepiece, and just a day after Damian Green, her Work and Pensions Secretary, insisted on The Andrew Marr Show that the Tories “wouldn’t look again” at the policy, Mrs May has been forced to U-turn on it.

Not very “strong and stable” is it? Sasha Simic

London N16

SIR – The term U-turn is always used disparagingly. Yet only a fool continues on a path that transpires not to be the better option. The savvy are prepared to alter course. This should be seen as a virtue. Gerry Doyle

Liverpool

SIR – These manifesto proposals should not have seen the light of day without thorough consultation. They come across as half-baked. The problem seems to be that the PM relies too heavily on a small inner circle.

She has given her opponents a free gift, and raised the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn being prime minister on June 9. Peter Johnson

East Preston, West Sussex SIR – John Froggatt (Letters, May 22) asks, with regard to the Tory manifesto proposals for social care: “Whatever happened to Conservatism?” The question should be: “Whatever happened to family values?”

I come from a family where nobody in my lifetime has been incarcerated in a care home, and I’m 81. Younger members of the family have always taken the responsibility for looking after those in need.

In the past this has meant giving up work early or losing precious retirement time in order to look after a sick relative.

Savings and the value of a house have not been used to pay for expensive care-home fees. The loss of a year’s or maybe two years’ salary will in most circumstances amount to far less than paying for a care home.

The elderly relative almost always prefers to spend their declining years in the comfort of their own home. One day we shall all be the elderly relative. Jon Summers

Probus, Cornwall