The Prime Minister has climbed down on her social care reform after an angry backlash over the so-called "dementia tax".

Theresa May has announced there will be an "absolute limit" on how much people will have to pay for their social care in a watering down of her reform, which was announced at the party manifesto just four days ago.

But the Prime Minister has denied the measure amounts to a u-turn, saying "nothing has changed".

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Speaking at the launch of the Welsh Conservative manifesto, Mrs May disclosed details of the cap, although she did not say what amount the upper limit would be - only that it would be part of a consultation.


May's manifesto: What has actually changed?

However, she said plans to make all those with assets of more than £100,000 pay for social care in their own homes if they need it would stay in place.

:: Conservative manifesto: What it says, what it means

Mrs May said that since she announced the social care proposals last week they had been subject to "fake claims" from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

She accused Mr Corbyn of promoting "scaremongering and fear".

May defends manifesto social care plans

Mrs May denied that there had been a change of direction and said she was simply clarifying the points in the manifesto, however, details of a cap were not contained in the manifesto.

:: Labour manifesto: What it says, what it means

Sky's Economic Editor Ed Conway said: "It's pretty clear, when you look at the manifesto this was not there.

"It looks to have been ruled out, if not explicitly, then very much implicitly and lo and behold, it suddenly changed and a cap has been added in the last few hours, it seems."

In an interview on Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt explicitly ruled out a cap. He said: "... not only are we dropping it (the cap) but we are dropping it ahead of a General Election and I think we're being completely explicit in our manifesto that we're dropping it."

Responding to Mrs May's announcement, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "They haven't said what the cap is.

"They haven't explained to the millions of people, who are desperately worried at the moment about what kind of care they are going to get in the future, desperately worried for children as well about how their parents are going to be looked after.

"This is a government in chaos and confusion."

:: Liberal Democrat manifesto: What it says, what it means

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "This is May's Manifesto Meltdown - in a matter of days she has gone from Margaret Thatcher to Corporal Jones. It's more don't panic Captain Mainwaring than strong and stable.

"Clearly, you can not trust a word of Theresa May's manifesto.

"As the lady is for turning, she now needs to u-turn on free school meals and her disastrous hard Brexit."

Watch: The key points from Tory manifesto launch

The announcement came amid growing criticism of the controversial plans to recoup the cost of social care from people's estates after their death and make pensioners shoulder the burden of increasing care costs.

The party performed badly in a slew of polls over the weekend, following the announcement at last week's Conservative manifesto launch.

In an attempt to tackle the criticism, Mrs May's team had paid Google to make sure a link to their website with the words "The so-called 'dementia tax' - Get the real facts" comes up at the top when users search "dementia tax".

Tory manifesto a 'savage attack' on pensioners

Labour has also bought an ad on Google titled "Tory Dementia Tax - What You Need to Know", which links through to the party's website. It was featured underneath the Conservative advert.

The former chancellor George Osborne, now Evening Standard editor, was first to suggest Mrs May's team was preparing for a u-turn on the policy.

In a tweet he said: "U-turn coming on social care. There will be a cap."

In an editorial in the newspaper, it said that it was "not encouraging that the original proposals were so badly thought through" and that Mrs May had capitulated because of anger from Conservative candidates.

Speaking at the weekend, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson refused to be drawn on suggestions Mrs May's team had failed to consult Cabinet ministers over theplans.

It was claimed Mrs May's chief of staff, Nick Timothy, included the measures at the last minute.