Given Tory voters are deserting the party in droves, Theresa May might have gone too far in her Conservative manifesto.
Dubbed the ‘dementia tax’, the Tories will make old people pay for their own social care. Jeremy Corbyn said that May is taking her core pensioner vote for “granted”, rather than providing a robust, universal healthcare plan.
Lifelong Tory voter, Elizabeth, agreed with the Labour leader. She implied May was taking voters like her for “mugs”, telling LBC radio:
I will burn my house down before I give Theresa May a penny of it, that’s how I feel tonight
Under the scheme, if an elderly person owns a house worth more than £100,000, they will have to pay for their care. The ideological policy contrasted with Labour’s investment approach has left May bleeding votes. One of the latest opinion polls put Labour on 35%, a whisker off the Conservatives’ overall vote share when they won in 2015.
Too far…
Elizabeth, who said she’d switched her postal vote to Labour, is far from the only one. LBC broadcaster Shelagh Fogarty reported:
Another one bites the dust. Tory voters galore telling me @LBC the #Torymanifesto Social Care pledge means they won't vote Conservative.
— Shelagh Fogarty (@ShelaghFogarty) May 18, 2017
Listen: Tory voter, Elizabeth, said she had been left so irate by “Saint Theresa” she’d switched her postal vote to Labour. #torymanifesto pic.twitter.com/XB5VUzBw33
— EL4C #WeAreCollective (@EL4JC) May 18, 2017
Anna, another Tory voter, exclaimed:
She’s lost mine as well… It’s a pure evil… I don’t know what they’re thinking… I shall go and vote for Jeremy Corbyn, then
Like Anna, David votes Tory and supports Brexit. He told LBC that the sitting Prime Minister had “absolutely” lost his vote if the dementia tax is “as he’s reading it”:
They think they’ve got this in the bag already… there comes a stage… They’re putting their hand in my pocket again and again.
Ouch! Yesterday, this Lady was fully intending on voting Tory. Today, she read the Tory manifesto. Now listen to her pic.twitter.com/2YlcySf0Le
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) May 18, 2017
Another former Tory supporter phoned LBC in tears over the dementia tax. Anna from Putney told host Nick Ferarri that the proposals would leave her homeless after her mother died.
While core Tory voters express dismay anecdotally, Labour continues to make gains in the opinion polls. With three weeks to go, there’s everything to play for. But only a groundswell of conversations between friends, families and local people can swing this election.
Get Involved!
– Register to vote in the 8 June general election.
– Discuss the key policy issues with family members, colleagues and neighbours. And organise! Join (and participate in the activities of) a union, an activist group, and/or a political party.
– Also read more Canary articles on the 2017 general election.
Featured image via YouTube
