Whatever your political persuasion there’s one thing we all agree on – Theresa May’s 2017 election wasn’t very good.
From the bizarre decision to call it, to the candidate’s awkward performance, to the disastrous result.
But where it really, really went wrong was when she started messing about with old people.
The “dementia tax” was a plan to make people pay for care if they had assets over £100,000.
It was greeted with absolute disbelief, immediately panned and later withdrawn.
But it hung over the campaign like a cloud.
When politicians start looking in the direction of the elderly it always raises dread.
This week we were treated to the sight of a House of Lords report that said free bus passes, fuel payments and TV licences are all being lined up for “review”.
No one can really understand, in the run-up to any election, why you would start talking about taking things from our elderly.
If you are going to do that, it’s done deep, deep in government – three years into a Parliament or something – when you have a massive majority.
You don’t do it as a zombie government, propped up by a constantly shifting alliance, in danger of collapse at any second.
Anyway. Policy is back on the agenda.
Approaching local elections – possibly Euros as well – and a pause in Brexit shenanigans means there is space to talk about other things.
Labour started it, getting back on the buses again.
They have pledged to invest £1.3billion to restore the thousands of bus routes that have been scrapped in the past few years.
It’s a policy that plays well with the elderly, the young, commuters, and people in rural areas.
And it’s green friendly.
They followed that up with a new plan to introduce more care packages for people living with dementia, and older people.
If introduced, it would give help to 160,000 older people who don’t get any assistance at all.
One Labour source told me: “There are lots more plans to come. All focused around making people’s lives better, improving services, putting more money in their pockets.
“It’s not that the government isn’t putting forward any ideas because it’s tied up with Brexit. It can’t get any ideas out because it hasn’t got any ideas.”
(Image: Getty Images)
So let’s see what happens.
What will be interesting is the Conservative response to these policies.
It’s very difficult to introduce any sort of large-scale project at the moment.
So again, let’s see what happens.
Bizarrely, there are rumblings that the Conservatives might be gearing up to take on the elderly yet again.
Expect to see ideas being floated in the next few days, debates on the TV and radio phone-ins.
But surely, even this failing, flailing government can’t be daft enough to try to taking things from pensioners?
Of course they can. It’s unwise but that didn’t stop them in 2017.
And, as we learned during that doomed campaign, it doesn’t end well.
