THE Prime Minister has re-opened the door to putting a cap on social care costs.

Theresa May made the announcement today, after the Tories’ opinion poll lead over Labour shrank amid public concern over manifesto proposals which were branded a “dementia tax” by General Election rivals.

Mrs May — who denied that she was making a U-turn — came under intense pressure over social care following the launch last Thursday of the Conservative manifesto, which included plans to include the value of individuals’ homes when calculating how much they must pay towards the cost of care in their own home.

Julie Hilling, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate in Bolton West, said that families were being left “completely in the dark” over what the Tory plans would mean.

The manifesto guaranteed that no-one would see their total assets depleted below £100,000 as a result of care costs, and said that payments for home care could be deferred until after death in order to prevent people having to sell their properties during their lifetimes.

But the document, launched shortly before Mrs May came to the Logistics North development at Over Hulton, appeared to reject the principle of a cap on contributions, a policy which the Prime Minister has now reversed.

She said: “We have not changed the principles of the policies we set out in our manifesto. Those policies remain exactly the same.

“There will be aspects of how this operates that we will consult on through the green paper. We were honest that we were going to have a green paper and would be consulting people on how the system operates.

“What we have done, which other parties have signally failed to do, is to recognise the challenge that we face, to respect the needs and concerns of the British people and to provide a long-term plan for sustainable social care which means that elderly people in this country won’t have to worry about how their social care will be paid for in the future.”

Ms Hilling, who is hoping to take back Bolton West from the Conservatives, said that the Prime Minister cannot be trusted to deliver on her manifesto policies.

She said: “I think that we are still completely in the dark. How can we trust anything that this woman says?

“People like me, caring for my 92-year-old mother, are still in the dark over what exactly the Tory manifesto means for people dependent on home care.

“I am pleased that the Tories have listened and gone back on the policy, but they need to tell us in the next two weeks exactly what they are going to do.

“I am glad that the Prime Minister has caved in on this one, but this is no way to run a country.”

Ahead of Mrs May’s announcement, the Liberal Democrats said that the average household in Bolton could be forced to pay £25,558 of the value of their homes for social care after they die and called for a cap of £72,000.

Warren Fox, Liberal Democrat candidate for Bolton North East, said that the Tory manifesto marked a return to “the nasty party” and Mrs May was “betraying” the frail and elderly.

He added: “The Tories have got egg on their face now.

“They have had to make a massive U-turn and I don’t think that they would have done this unless there had been such a public outcry. They are in manifesto meltdown.”