Theresa May hints wealthy OAPs could lose expensive perks so money can be ploughed into NHS

THERESA May has hinted she is ready to strip rich pensioners of their expensive perks and plough the money into the NHS instead.

Freebies for well-off OAPs that could go include the £200-a-year Winter Fuel Payments and eye tests with no charge.

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The speculation was sparked after Mrs May refused to issue a pledge to keep the perks when tackled over the spending.

During a grilling by ITV News via a Facebook Live, the PM would only say it would be one of the “issues which will be addressed when we publish our manifesto later this week”.

Tory aides insisted free bus passes for all OAPs will be protected from the axe, but remained tight lipped about all other handouts.

Limiting others to only the less well-off half of OAPs would save the country about £2billion.

The move would mean victory for The Sun’s long running Ditch Handouts to The Rich campaign.

The move has also been long called for by a series of senior Tory MPs such as ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith, who brand the spending a huge waste of precious money.

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All over-60s — whether they are millionaires or paupers, and provided they were born before May 5, 1953 — are sent the Winter Fuel Payment, including 100,000 households with a retirement income of more than £100,000 a year.

In the same interview, Mrs May also appeared to drop another big hint that there would be extra money going into the NHS when she unveils the Tories election blueprint on Thursday.

The PM said: “We’ll set out in our manifesto the details of this”.

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Pushed if she was hinting there might be more money for the health service, May would only say: “There was a hint you have to wait until the manifesto.”

The PM took a total of 59 questions from Facebook users during the 45 minute-long online grilling.

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Mrs May confirmed if she was re-elected on June 8 she would serve a full term as PM until at least 2022, and see through the Brexit negotiations, promising: “I will be round”.

The PM also laughed off a question over whether former Ukip leader Nigel Farage should get a knighthood.

She also discussed how she coped with her diabetes.

Mrs May, who is Type-1 diabetic, said she injects herself with insulin “four or five times a day”.

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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn attempted to ambush the PM, demanding that she debate him on TV.

But again refusing, Mrs May said: “I don’t think people get much out of seeing politicians having a go at each other”.

The PM’s manifesto hint during her first grilling on Facebook Live came after she was confronted by an angry voter with learning disabilities while on a rare campaign walkabout at a market in Oxford.

Mrs May was confronted by an angry voter while on a rare campaign walkabout at a market in Oxford.

Cathy Mohan harangued the PM: “I want you to do something for us. I’m angry. I want my Disability Living Allowance to come back.

“I can’t live on £100 a month.”

In a confrontation caught by TV cameras, Cathy added: “The fat cats keep the money and us lot get nothing”.

• UPDATE: An earlier version of this story said all people over the age of 60 are eligible for the winter fuel payment. This has been corrected to clarify they must have been born before May 5, 1953 to qualify.