Wannabe Prime Minister Liz Truss was today confronted with the impact of years of government failure as she hit the campaign trail at a children's charity.
The Foreign Secretary was told the facility in Peterborough only existed because parents weren't getting the support they needed, while a boss voiced serious concerns about tax cut pledges.
Ms Truss visited Little Miracles, which supports thousands of children with additional needs - many of them with nowhere else to turn.
She heard the frustrations of families struggling to get vital support for children, a large number of who have disabilities and life-limiting conditions.
The Tory hopeful claimed that under her leadership there would be no frontline cuts, and said she would tackle "bureaucracy".
Parent and director Tim Bedward-Jones told her: "This place shouldn't exist, but it does because there's nowhere else that helps with their needs."
Meanwhile the charity's chief executive Michelle King told The Mirror: "My little boy is 15, he has a condition that's considered palliative, but there's no support for him.
"The local authority is really supportive but they haven't got the funding either. I've sat with social workers who have cried because they know they can't meet families' needs.
"My concern is that any reduction in taxes means there will be less support available to families."
She added: "Tax cuts sound amazing, but there isn't enough money in the pot. I hope she'll listen to the families, and I hope she's not just here for publicity."
Ms King said the 600-ish volunteers at Little Miracles help 24,000 children a year, but their annual budget is less than £500,000, with a large chunk coming from donations.
Challenged by The Mirror over whether she would cut back services further if she wins the race for Number 10, Ms Truss denied that she would oversee a fresh round of Tory austerity.
She said: "I'm very clear I'm not planning public spending reductions.
"What I am planning is public service reforms, to get more money to the frontline, to cut out a lot of the bureaucracy that people face and to support great organisations like this to make sure that people don't spend their time battling the system because the system is working for them, not against them.
"That is all about doing things better. I'm certainly not talking about public spending cuts, what I'm talking about is raising growth.
"If we get British growth levels up to the level of our best competitors, we will have more money to put in families' pockets which is very important to me.
"I want people to be able to keep hold of their own money but we'll also have more money to spend on our public services over the long term."
Ms Truss told reporters she would reverse the government's increase in National Insurance and would pause the green levy - but would not elaborate on whether fuel duty was on her radar.
“I’m not going to write the whole first budget now, that is a matter for the chancellor," she said.
"But what I can say is we need to reduce the tax burden, it's the highest level it has been for 70 years."
The Tory leadership candidate met with children, with one boy challenging her over when Boris Johnson would be "kicked out".
And one said: "This is so awkward," while another suggested making Larry the Cat Prime Minister.
The cabinet member was asked where the money would come from to tackle the NHS backlog - as this was supposed to be covered by the national insurance rise.
She said: “I am going to proceed with that spending on social care.
“We can afford it within our budgets. We didn’t have to do the national insurance rise."
In what appeared to be a barbed dig at her rival, Rishi Sunak, she said: "The reason I have talked about my upbringing is because it's what motivated me to go into politics.
"Because I do want to change things. And I am frustrated about the way things are and I continue to want to change things.
"And of course, you know, when I was growing up in Paisley and Leeds, I met a wide variety of people, I’ve got friends from all kinds of backgrounds and I do think that gives me a perspective on what people want, what people need and how we need to move forward."
Ms Truss also said: “I’m not the slickest out there, I’ll be honest, but I am somebody who when I say I’ll do something I get it done.”
