Summary

  • Campaigning suspended after Manchester blast

  • Prime Minister will chair emergency Cobra meeting

  • Lib Dems leader calls off Gibraltar visit

  • SNP postpones manifesto launch

  1. How much of a U-turn has there really been?published at 13:10 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

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  2. Theresa May: This is the right way forwardpublished at 13:08 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Theresa May denies a "panic" rethink and says that her social care funding plans are the right way forward.

    Read More
  3. BBC Election Panel: Your thoughts on taxpublished at 12:58 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    The BBC is running an election panel, asking voters for their thoughts ahead of 8 June.

    We asked:

    Tax has become a big election issue. Who should be paying more and who less? What should our approach to taxation be and whose policies do you support if any?

    Tax formImage source, bbc

    Oliver, Dudley: "People who earn more should pay a little more and those who have [or] get paid £400,000+ should be taxed a lot more/ a new taxation bracket made for those people."

    Ian, Coventry: "The rich should be paying more tax."

    Roger Dicks, Birmingham: "High earners should pay more taxes. Corporation tax should be reduced."

    John Morse, Coventry: "People on high salaries should pay more in taxation. The better off should help those in real need.

    "Pensioners like me have done well over the past few years. No party seems to want to tackle it properly. Labour have an idea of what is needed but will it raise more.

    "Tackle tax fraud and get rid of tax loopholes."

  4. U-turn 'will upset PM's Fleet Street supporter'published at 12:58 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

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  5. Tory social care plans: how have things changed?published at 12:53 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    It's been a dramatic hour or so here. Here's a quick recap in case you missed it:

    • The Conservative manifesto, launched four days ago, made no mention of a cap on care costs and accompanying briefing notes for journalists said the party believed the new proposals were fairer than a cap
    • The plan caused quite a lot of controversy in the following days, but a number of ministers were sent out to defend it - and to say why a cap wouldn't be a good idea - see earlier entries on Green, Gauke and Hunt.
    • Sources told the BBC this morning there would be no rowing back and the planned consultation would look at the "finer detail" only
    • But when Theresa May stepped up to a press conference shortly after 11am, in what she called a "clarification", she announced there would be a consultation on a cap after all
    • "We will make sure there's an absolute limit on what people need to pay", she said
    • The PM insisted "nothing has changed" and blamed Labour for misrepresenting the policy, but the general consensus from our experts and others is that a whole lot has, in fact, changed
  6. Miliband accuses PM of lying over care planspublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

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  7. Hunt said cap was being dropped 'because it's unfair'published at 12:47 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    An eagle-eyed colleague has dug up up a quote from Health Secretary Jeremy hunt on 18 May.

    It's probably the clearest evidence yet that the Conservatives had abandoned the idea of a cap, but have now returned to it - despite Theresa May's claim that "nothing has changed".

    Asked if the party was dropping the idea of a cap, Mr Hunt said:

    Quote Message

    “Yes. Not only are we dropping it but we are dropping it ahead of a general election and we’re being completely explicit in our manifesto that we’re dropping it and we’re dropping it because we’ve looked again at this proposal and we don’t think it’s fair."

    He said it would be "unfair" for someone with a house worth, say, £2m having hundreds of thousands of pounds of care paid for by the taxpayer, by struggling families just getting by.

  8. Osborne editorial attacks 'astonishing U-turn'published at 12:36 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    The editorial in the London Evening Standard - edited, of course, by George Osborne, external - calls today's events "an astonishing U-turn".

    "The details are still sketchy but it is not encouraging that the original proposals were so badly thought through," it says.

    Theresa May must have known the idea would be met with "fierce opposition", it continues.

    "The current Tory leaders should have been ready to defend their approach. Instead we had a weekend of wobbles that presumably prompted today’s U-turn."

  9. Clegg accuses May of 'manifesto meltdown'published at 12:34 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Nick Clegg

    Former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg tells the BBC millions of families are still “none the wiser” after Mrs May’s announcement of a care cap.

    “Families know they will have to pay a lot more for their domiciliary care," he says.

    “They don’t know how much.They don’t know when and at what point they will need to sell their homes, and it breeds and fosters uncertainty…

    “If this is the way Theresa May behaves under a little bit of pressure… it doesn’t bode well for the way that the Conservative Party is going to run the Brexit talks.”

  10. 'Nobody is representing young people'published at 12:29 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Stuart Maisner
    BBC Live reporter

    A University of Sussex student says she feels young people aren't being represented in Parliament.

    #MyFirstVote

  11. Gauke also dismissed cap during Sunday interviewpublished at 12:29 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    David Gauke

    Conservative Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke also appeared to rule out a cap on Sunday Politics yesterday.

    When asked why the Conservatives had abandoned the idea, he said: "...first of all much of the benefit of that would go to those inheriting the larger estates.

    "The second point is that the hope was that a cap would stimulate the private insurance products that would, if you like, fill the gap. But there isn't really any sign that those products are emerging."

    Without a cap you won't get one, suggested presenter Andrew Neil.

    "It doesn't look like they're emerging with the cap, so we've come forward with a new proposal which we think is fair and does provide more money for social care, which is really important," argued Mr Gauke.

  12. Watch: BBC correspondent on Theresa May speechpublished at 12:27 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Vicki Young
    Chief Political Correspondent

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  13. Corbyn: I condemn all acts of violence in Northern Irelandpublished at 12:27 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Jeremy Corbyn has been asked (again) about his view of the IRA. Mr Corbyn said he condemned "all acts of violence in Northern Ireland from wherever they came".

    He said in the 1980s he fought for peace, justice and a solution, and peace was achieved "by a lot of bravery in the unionist community as well as in the nationalist community".

    "Both Republicans and Unionists walked that extra mile and brought us the Good Friday agreement - and I think we should use this election as thanking those who brought about" the agreement "all of them - those in government at the time as well as all those who did so much on the ground".

  14. Anything but strong and stablepublished at 12:26 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Norman Smith
    Assistant political editor

    This is a hugely significant moment. It's first time we've seen Theresa May on the back foot, having to rip up a manifesto pledge just four days after making it. And not just any pledge, it was their key announcement.

    The PM says there's no change in the principle of the policy - well, there most certainly is. They had said they were opposed to a cap - it was unfair, regressive - but now a cap is back.

    A cap also means money, government money, and it leaves a big hole in the Tory figures - who or what is going to pay for it?

    And perhaps most damaging of all, Theresa May has made her whole pitch about being a strong and stable leader.

    This looks anything but.

  15. Two choices for the cap?published at 12:26 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

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  16. Watch: Labour and Tory reaction to May speech on social carepublished at 12:22 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Jo Coburn
    Daily Politics presenter

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  17. Damian Green criticised a cap just yesterdaypublished at 12:20 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Damian Green

    Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green criticised the idea of a cap on BBC One's Andrew Marr show yesterday (you can read the transcript here).

    Setting a cap rather than a floor "meant that the distribution of the benefits became wildly uneven", he said.

  18. Business figures 'back campaign to stay in single market'published at 12:19 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    More than 50 of Britain's leading business figures and entrepreneurs - including the founder of Ebookers, Dinesh Dhamija, co-founder of Innocent Drinks Richard Reed and businesswoman Nicola Horlick - have backed the Liberal Democrat campaign to stay in the single market, the party says.

    In a letter to The Times, the business figures wrote that leaving the single market would be "destructive to the British economy," and that the Lib Dems are "the only party speaking for business and the majority of Britons on the key issue at this election."

    Shadow chancellor Sir Vince Cable commented: “The Liberal Democrats now have support from a large number of serious figures in the business community, showing that we are rapidly emerging as the party of business, both big and small."

  19. Watch: Theresa May denies 'panic' over social carepublished at 12:16 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    The Conservative leader responds to the BBC's Laura Keunssberg:

  20. All young people should have chance of university - Corbynpublished at 12:16 British Summer Time 22 May 2017

    Jeremy CorbynImage source, AFP

    Jeremy Corbyn has been defending his party's policy to scrap university tuition fees, saying he is "determined that university education should be available for all".

    Labour will also reinstate the maintenance grant and the education maintenance allowance that allows young people to continue doing their A levels, he said.

    "We want all young people to have a chance of going to university," he said at a Labour campaigning event in Hull.

    Since tuition fees have increased to £9,000 a year, the numbers of working class applications have declined, he said, adding: "Surely we should be investing in our future?"

    He said "society loses out" if people do not achieve the profession they want, such as in nursing, teaching, medicine or engineering.