Older voters will have to wait until after the election to find out how much money they could lose as a result of Conservative manifesto pledges, a senior Tory cabinet minister has said.
Damian Green, the work and pensions secretary, said he could not say which older people would lose their winter fuel allowances as a result of new means testing and struggled to explain how much some could have to pay because of the proposed social care shakeup, which has been dubbed a “dementia tax” by Labour.
“If they are in genuine need of the winter fuel payment they will still get it ... That’s what we’re going to consult on after the election. That’s the sensible way to do it. That is the way a grown-up government will operate,” he told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
Green was confronted with calculations suggesting a widow living in an average-priced house in his own constituency of Ashford in Kent could have to pay an extra £70,000 towards the cost of care for dementia in her own home.
“I suspect that figure requires heroic assumptions,” Green said. “She should vote Conservative and her children should vote Conservative because whatever level of care she needs that removes that terrible decision of how long should you try and keep someone at home or maybe put them into residential care.”
The work and pensions secretary said the policy would not be reversed but it would be subject to a consultation over the summer, like the winter fuel allowance proposal.
He was also pressed about the uncosted nature of the Conservative manifesto in contrast to Labour’s, which presented calculations about how current spending would be balanced by raising taxes on the wealthiest individuals and businesses.
“The difference between the Conservative party and the Labour party is that we produce realistic policies to deal with the real problems of this country.”
The Conservatives appear to have fallen back in the polls amid a growing backlash over the impact of May’s manifesto on older people, who are a key demographic in the party’s support.
The gap between the Tories and Labour has narrowed over the last week, according to four polls released this weekend, with YouGov for the Sunday Times showing only a nine-percentage-point lead for May’s party.
Under the social care plans, older people will have to pay for care in their own home out of the value of their house for the first time until they have £100,000 of assets remaining. The party is promising no one will have to sell their home, as products will be available to allow them to recoup the cost from the value of their assets after death or when the property is eventually sold.
But John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said the new system was a lottery that hit those who are unlucky enough to suffer from dementia. He said Labour would prefer a cap on the cost that people have to contribute towards their care, similar to the system proposed in a review by Sir Andrew Dilnot.
“You should pool the risk and that way people are not left on their own,” he said.
As newspapers dubbed it a “weekend wobble” for the Conservatives, senior ministers were dispatched on to the airwaves to defend the social care package and withdrawal of winter fuel allowance.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, said the social care package was an example of “responsible, grown-up Conservative policy”.
May and other MPs are also using the narrowing of the polls to attempt to motivate Conservative voters to turn out, arguing a failure to do so will make Corbyn prime minister.
