Here are all the questions Theresa May wouldn't answer in her big interview
Evasive answers ranged from Brexit to the NHS through to the ‘dementia tax’
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May was interviewed by the BBC's Andrew Neil on Monday. The Prime Minister was criticised for refusing to answer many of the questions put to her, instead giving answers that failed to directly the issue the subject at hand.
Here are the five biggest question areas where the PM left us none the wiser, ranging from Brexit to the NHS.
What will the 'dementia tax' cap be?
The Prime Minister was asked whether she could “give us an idea of what the cap might be, the amount we’ll have to pay for social care?”
She didn’t answer the question, and instead replied: “What we’re going to do, as we said in our manifesto, is publish – we referred to a green paper, of course the green paper, many people may not realise a green paper is a consultation, so we want to take people’s views, the views of charities, the views of others on how the system should be operating.
“What I’ve said today is that we will have within that consultation that concept of an absolute limit on the cost that people have to pay. So we’re protecting people for the future and we’re providing a system that provides sustainability in our social care for the future. And we’ve got an ageing population, we need to do this, otherwise our system will collapse.”
How will you pay for your promised funding for the NHS?
Theresa May was asked about her spending pledge for the National Health Service: “How are you going to pay for the extra £8bn for the NHS?”
She didn’t answer the question, and instead replied: “Andrew, when I go around the country and talk to people about what we’re going to do in government, what people want to know is are we actually going to have the strong economy that enables us to pay for the NHS and pay for the public services that people want? Now, in our manifesto we’ve put some examples of how we’re going to change the way money is used. On winter fuel payments, for example, we will means test that. That money will go into health and social care.”
Will you rule out raising National Insurance?
The PM was asked whether she would rule out a future rise in National Insurance, after having cancelled her previous one.
She didn’t answer the question, and instead replied: “We said we were taking those plans off the table. We have asked Matthew Taylor to do a report on the new forms of employment and we will look at the results of that report when it comes in, but we’ve removed the proposals that we put in the Budget, we’ve removed those from the table.”
Who is going to lose their winter fuel allowance?
Ms May was asked “how many pensioners will lose their winter fuel allowance” as a result of her decision to means test the plan.
She didn’t answer the question, and instead replied: “We are – we will means test winter fuel allowance but once again we will consult, we will ask people, charities, organisations at what level that should be set.”
What are the ‘dire consequences’ of a bad Brexit deal she warned about?
Ms May had previously said there could be “dire consequences” from a Brexit deal. She was asked what they might be.
She didn’t answer the question, and instead replied: “Well I think if you look at what is being said around the whole question of Brexit negotiations you’ve got in the – some people in the European Union talking about punishing the United Kingdom. You’ve got some people here in the UK who are saying that it doesn’t really matter what we – what we do and we’re just going to get any old deal and that’s all that we need to do. For our future -”
When Andrew Neil asked a follow up, she added: “Well I’ve said that no deal is better than a bad deal.”
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