THERESA May has suffered her worst day of the election campaign so far after a dramatic U-turn on social care put her on the defensive and opened her up to attacks of a “manifesto meltdown”.

Labour sought to capitalise on the Tory leader’s “wobble” by demanding a guarantee pensioners, many of whom south of the border face a reduction in their winter fuel payment, would not be hit with further cuts to free bus passes and TV licences if her party won power.

The Prime Minister sought to “clarify” the Conservative position, which just days ago was against putting a cap on the cost elderly people in England pay for social care.

Introducing a cap had been the Tory policy in 2015 and economist Andrew Dilnot had suggested one of £72,000.

But, ahead of the Tory manifesto launch last week, Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, insisted the party would be dropping the policy because it was “unfair” as it would mean taxpayers bearing some of the costs of individuals’ social care.

At the weekend, Damian Green, the Work and Pensions Secretary, insisted there would be no change in the proposal to scrap the cap.

But just 24 hours later, launching the Welsh Conservatives manifesto in Wrexham, Mrs May declared: “We will make sure there will be an absolute limit on what people will need to pay for their care.”

Since last week’s manifesto launch pressure had built from the party’s candidates, who had told Tory HQ that the policy - dubbed the “dementia tax” by Labour and the Liberal Democrats - was going down very badly on the doorstep. Over the weekend, the Tory lead halved to nine points.

In North Wales, the PM, looking at times frustrated with journalists’ questions, was adamant the manifesto principles remained the same. "Nothing has changed, nothing has changed," she said.

On Monday evening, Mrs May, pressed on the issue during BBC1’s Andrew Neil Interview, said she was being “honest” with the public about the need to fix the social care problem now, pointing out how over the next decade there would be two million more people aged over 75.

“I’m not going to bury my head in the sand, I’m not going to play politics with it; which is what Jeremy Corbyn is doing. I’m going to fix it,” she insisted.

The Tory leader stressed how her party’s plan was about protecting people and reducing their worries by guaranteeing an elderly person receiving care would be able to pass on at least £100,000 from their estate and ensuring they would not have to give up their home during their lifetime.

The PM explained how she had clarified her party’s position because of “fake news” being peddled by the Labour leader.

“I have seen the scaremongering, frankly, over the weekend; I have seen the way Jeremy Corbyn wants to sneak into No 10 by playing on the fears of older and vulnerable people and I have clarified what we will be putting in the Green Paper[consultation], which I set out in the manifesto.”

But the Labour leader, on the campaign trail in Yorkshire, denied scaremongering and insisted he was simply “expressing the fears a lot of people have”. He said the U-turn showed this was a “government in chaos and confusion".

His colleague, Debbie Abrahams, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, pointed to the Tory plan to end the triple lock on state pensions and means-test the winter fuel allowance south of the border.

She said: “The risk is now that the Tories could have other nasty surprises for pensioners up their sleeves. There’s a real possibility that other hard-earned benefits like bus passes and free TV licenses could be next.”

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat former Care Minister, said: "This is Theresa May's manifesto meltdown. This is not strong and stable; it's panic and U-turn."

Angus Robertson for the SNP claimed the PM had been utterly humiliated. “The U-turn betrays the reality of the Tory leadership; that of a weak and wobbling prime minister.”

Other campaign developments include:

*today, Nicola Sturgeon will launch the SNP manifesto with what she will call a “responsible fiscal plan to end austerity and free up resources to invest in public services” and stressing how a vote for her party would “strengthen Scotland’s right to choose our own future”;

*after Mr Corbyn in the last 48 hours repeatedly refused to denounce the IRA, causing Tory HQ to say he was unfit to be PM, his office said the Labour leader did believe they were terrorists and condemned the republican group’s bombing campaign during the Troubles;

*the recent Conservative poll lead in Wales has been reversed in the last fortnight with Labour now ahead, up nine points to 44 and the Tories, down seven, on 34, according to the Welsh Political Barometer snapshot;

*Kezia Dugdale offered Scots a "cast-iron guarantee" that Labour would oppose a second independence referendum as she launched Scottish Labour’s manifesto;

*the First Minister defended her SNP colleague, party candidate Joanna Cherry, amid accusations of a "smear campaign'' against a nurse, who challenged the party leader over the NHS in Scotland during Sunday’s BBC televised debate and

*Mr Corbyn announced Labour would backdate to this September future plans to scrap university tuition fee for students in England as he made a pitch for the youth vote.