May makes tax U-turn amid falling poll ratings
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to publicly backtrack on one of her most striking election pledges on Monday after plans to force elderly people to pay more for their social care halved her party’s opinion poll lead in just a few days.
In what amounts to her biggest misstep of the campaign to date, May set out plans on Thursday to make some elderly people pay a greater share of their care costs, before hastily announcing on Monday there would actually be a limit. Questioned at an election event, she grew increasingly irritated at suggestions she was backing down.
Six opinion polls published in the past three days have all shown a contraction in the Conservative Party’s lead over the opposition Labour Party by a range of 2 to 9 percentage points, though all indicate May will still win the election.
May said opponents such as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had tried to scare the elderly by spreading “fake claims” about her plan to transfer more of the cost from taxpayers to recipients who can afford to fund care themselves.
Dubbed the ‘dementia tax’ by opponents, the proposal had raised concerns that some seniors might see their houses sold off to pay for care, rather than passed on to their descendants. “We will make sure nobody has to sell their family home to pay for care,” May said in the Welsh city of Wrexham. —
london — British Prime Minister Theresa May made a public climbdown on Monday over plans to force elderly people to pay more for their social care, after her governing Conservative Party’s opinion poll lead halved in the run-up to a national election.
In her biggest misstep of the campaign to date, May set out plans last week to transfer a greater share of the cost of care for the elderly from taxpayers to recipients who can afford to fund it themselves.
That raised concerns some might see their houses sold off after their deaths to pay for care received, rather than passed on to their descendants. May’s opponents dubbed it a “dementia tax”, saying it will particularly hit those who need long-term care at home.
“We will make sure nobody has to sell their family home to pay for care. We will make sure there’s an absolute limit on what people need to pay ... so you will always have something to pass on to your family,” May said on Monday.
She said opponents and the media had misrepresented the policy proposal which she called part of an important attempt to change the care system in an ageing society.
But May appeared flustered as she faced questions from journalists about her announcement of a cap.
“Nothing has changed, nothing has changed, we are offering a long-term solution for the sustainability of social care for the future,” she said, shaking her head and raising her voice as it was described as a u-turn by journalists. “Nothing has changed.”
When May called a snap election for June 8, surveys indicated she would win a landslide comparable with Margaret Thatcher’s 1983 majority of 144 seats in the 650seat parliament.
That picture changed after both the Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party set out their election pitches to voters last week, with a Survation poll published on Monday showed May’s lead over Labour had halved to 9 percentage points.
It followed surveys over the
Nothing has changed, nothing has changed, we are offering a longterm solution for the sustainability of social care for the future. Theresa May, British PM
weekend suggesting the gap had narrowed.
May had sought to poach traditional Labour supporters with a mix of pledges more radical than those of her predecessor, David Cameron.
A YouGov poll on Saturday found 40 per cent of the public were opposed to the change to elderly care provision while 35 per cent were supportive. It also showed 49 percent opposed May’s plan to tighten the criteria for raising the state pension each year, compared to 30 percent who supported it.
May called the election to strengthen her hand in negotiations on Britain’s departure from the European Union and win more time to deal with the impact of the divorce. .
With polls showing the Conservatives’ lead over Labour down from 20 points or more earlier in the campaign, May is projected to win a smaller majority of around 40 seats. But many are sceptical of the headline poll numbers after surveys failed to correctly predict Britain’s last national election in 2015, as well as the 2016 EU referendum and Donald Trump’s US election victory. Pollsters have said their 2015 findings overestimated support for Labour. While they have since adjusted their methodology to seek to address this, it will not be known until June 9.
Survation said that respondents “were more likely to say that Labour had the best policies for young people, families with children, managing the National Health Service, improving the education system and older people and pensioners.”—