Secretary of state for work and pensions Iain Duncan Smith delivers his speech at the Conservative Party annual conference 2015. Isabel Infantes/EMPICS Entertainment/PA Images. All rights reserved.Labour’s shock success in the “snap” general election left poll takers more than slightly embarrassed (except YouGov and Survation), and political commentators scrambling to cover their backsides. In their struggle to adjust to a resurgent Labour Party led by the “unelectable” Jeremy Corbyn the nominal progressives among the pundits provided a textbook guide to the difference between centrist neoliberalism and social democracy.
The Conservative manifesto included, among its political disasters, the proposal that care for the elderly should be funded by drawing on their assets with an exemption at £100,000. The proposal was quickly dropped due to opposition among Conservative MPs and in effect called for wealth-tested funding of residential care (“nursing homes”).
While ridiculing the Prime Minister for her “U-turn”, at least two opinion writers in The Guardian endorsed the proposal as necessary and fair. The proposal was necessary because of our ageing population and a life expectancy considerably greater than retirement age. It qualified as fair because it exempted the poor who rarely hold any assets.
