Why the ‘dementia tax’ U-turn is such a blow to Theresa May

U-turning on a manifesto commitment just days after it was announced would be embarrassing for any politician. But it is particularly humiliating when your whole campaign is based around the idea that you offer competent, ‘strong and stable’ leadership.

But even leaving aside the immediate political repercussions, this U-turn is a deep blow to Theresa May and her team. For the social care policy was totemic of the way she is trying to change the party. She and her team want to make the Tories more concerned about the just managing than the better off and less deferential to property wealth. As the manifesto said, they considered their original proposals, which—crucially—didn’t include an overall cap on how much an individual would have to pay for care, to be ‘more equitable, within and across the generations, than the proposals following the Dilnot Report, which mostly benefited a small number of wealthier people.