Theresa May’s Conservative Party found itself on the defensive over plans to make the elderly pay for their own care, with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson suggesting the policy might be tweaked while Pensions Secretary Damian Green insisted it wouldn’t.
The policy, unveiled in her campaign platform on Thursday, would see the elderly paying for their care until their total wealth fell to 100,000 pounds.
In an opinion piece published on Saturday, the Telegraph said the Prime Minister’s proposal should only be a “temporary solution.”
According to the paper, Britain needs to find new ways of pooling risk that don’t rely on the state. “There is no reason why the private sector cannot provide new insurance policies that pay for care if needed while allowing prudent contributors to retain their home, and thus leave something for their loved ones.”
May’s manifesto reversed the party’s 2015 promise to cap the total amount people spend on their own care at 72,000 pounds. The party has said it will restrict payments to wealthier pensioners that it previously guaranteed.
The Labour Party, seeing an opportunity to win over older voters, branded the plans a “dementia tax.” That came as polls suggested Labour might be increasing its support ahead of the June 8 election, though still far behind the Tories.
The Telegraph the label, and described the move as a “classic, nasty Left-wing tactic: call your opponent heartless, terrify the voters and try to make welfare reform so toxic that it becomes politically untouchable.”
Johnson, speaking on ITV’s “Peston on Sunday,” hinted that a shift is possible. “I do understand people’s reservations and the questions that people are asking about some of the detail of this,” the foreign secretary said. “As the prime minister said, there will be a consultation on getting it right.”
But Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green, speaking earlier on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show,” said there would be no backing down. “We have set out this policy which we’re not going to look at again,” he said.
Staff Writers with files from Bloomberg
