CONSERVATIVE candidate Tobias Ellwood faced tough questions about Theresa May's u-turn over the so-called "dementia tax" at a hustings event on Monday night.

The candidates hoping to become the next MP for Bournemouth East went head-to-head over issues such as homelessness, social welfare, Brexit and the NHS at Immanuel Church.

The "dementia tax" u-turn was made just four days after Teresa May made it the centrepiece of her election manifesto.

Thursday's Tory manifesto set out plans to include the value of elderly people's properties when calculating how much they should pay towards the cost of care at home, as well as residential care. And it guaranteed that no-one would see the value of their estate shrink below £100,000 as a result of care costs.

But in a surprising u-turn on Monday, Mrs May announced the Conservatives would pledge to introduce a cap on lifetime care costs.

At the hustings Green Party candidate Alasdair Keddie told the crown of around 100 people that it was the "first-time in history a party has u-turned on a manifesto pledge".

He added: "Clearly the Tory social care policy is in complete and utter disarray.

"Forcing people to sell their homes for social care is just asset stripping of vulnerable people on a huge scale and now the Tories cannot backtrack fast enough.

"It's just one of the policies they tried to push through because they are so confident of a landslide victory."

In response Mr Ellwood admitted social care was "a bit of a hot potato".

"This is a very difficult area there's no doubt about it. But we are the only party who is trying to deal with this very tricky area but it's very difficult to understand where that threshold should be.

"Currently the Government spends £250 billion on social services and that is unsustainable when trying to get the deficit down."

The answers were given in response to a question about social care provision not just for the elderly but also rough sleepers in the town.

Independent candidate Kieron Wilson, who's main election pledge is to reduce homelessness in the town, said Tory cuts to the social care budget was part of the problem.

But he also criticised Bournemouth Borough Council for its attempts at reducing the number of rough sleepers in the town which included "playing bagpipes at the Travel Interchange and buying one-way train tickets".

Meanwhile Labour candidate Dr Mel Semple said: "Rough sleepers is an issue that comes down to housing. I believe that affordable, safe, secure housing is a basic human right of everyone on this planet, but there is a political will to build these houses."

And Liberal Democrat candidate Jon Nicholas called for a more "integrated approach" with agencies working together.

"Health and social care need to be linked. Just think for example about an elderly person who doesn't need to be in hospital anymore but can't leave because there isn't suitable help for them out in the community," added Mr Nicholas.

He also said that more people were falling through the gaps of the "very wealthy and the desperately poor".