The Conservatives had decided to consult people on a proposal to reduce the right to care services to just those who are judged to be in "critical" need. Currently, those who are in "substantial" need also receive care and only those whose need is judged to be "moderate" or "low" are turned away. In future, those with "substantial" needs would also have had their rights to care removed.

On 8th October the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Adrian Collett, and the Social Care Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Alan Dowden, wrote a joint letter to all media outlets in Hampshire to highlight this issue as they felt that many people were unaware that this dramatic cut in entitlement was being proposed.

They asked for people to make their views known, and it is clear that many people have. The County Council press release refers to "/scores of letters and telephone calls/" all of which told the County Council not to do this.

Cllr Adrian Collett said: "I congratulate everyone who has made their views known to the County Council. You have made the Conservatives back down from a proposal that they should never have made in the first place! If you hadn't taken the trouble to speak out, they might have got away with it!"

Cllr Alan Dowden said: "I have been telling the Conservative administration for several years now that they are under-budgeting for Social Care. The current budget crisis was entirely predictable and it is wrong that the most vulnerable people in our society should be the ones who are made to suffer because of this crisis.

The Conservatives say that they now recognise that this is not the way forward for Hampshire, but why did they ever think that it was?"