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Andy Burnham Invites Main Opposition Parties To Help Labour 'Problem-Solve' Social Care Crisis
Ed Davey, Andy Burnham, Kemi BadenochAndy Burnham has invited the main opposition parties to help him address the growing crisis with the UK’s social care sector.It comes after the prime minister pledged to find common ground across the political spectrum during his campaign to be Labour leader.He has also promised to take action on the declining social care system since getting the keys to No.10 on July 20.While visiting a care home on Wednesday, the prime minister will say he is hoping to draw a line under decades of decline and a refusal to tackle these problems head on.Burnham has invited the leaders of the two main opposition parties, the Tories’ Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dems’ Ed Davey, to meet him tomorrow to overhaul the sector.Badenoch, the official leader of the opposition, told the PM on Sunday not to raise taxes to fund social care reform and to be fair to those who have “made provisions and saved up over the course of their lives”.The Tories’ shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew also said: “Andy Burnham and Labour cannot rely on vague promises of reform without a clear plan for implementation and detail on what will happen when.“The Conservatives are ready to work with Labour on measures that improve social care provided they are not reliant on yet more tax rises and borrowing.”Davey, who has long campaigned for reform within the social care sector, said on Saturday that he will “fight to ensure family carers aren’t forgotten”.Both parties were open to working with the prime minister, though.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, however, accused Burnham of “conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment” after he was not invited to the meeting.He claimed it was the “uniparty in action” and that it was “remarkable” Reform were left off the invite list.In a statement released before his Wednesday speech, Burnham said: “Last week I said we needed a different kind of politics: problem-solving, not point-scoring. Nowhere is that more urgent than social care.“For decades, governments have kicked this issue down the road because they’ve seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too complicated.“Politicians might have different views but I’m serious about fixing this issue and to do that, we have to find common ground and listen to others to find a way forward.“It’s time to draw a line under people playing politics when the human cost of that means carers struggling, families paying the price and our NHS buckling under the strain.“This comes down to a choice. We can carry on passing the problem to the next generation, or we can face it head on and work together to build a care system that gives people dignity, security and the support they deserve.“This is about bringing back hope that we can finally fix the difficult issues that have been ignored for too long, and making Britain believe again.“That’s why I’m making this choice and I’m prepared to put everything I’ve got behind it.”Burnham is not the first leader in recent years to promise to fix the social care sector, though.According to the Lib Dems, there have been 22 failed attempts at reforming social care since 1997.Boris Johnson promised in his first speech as PM in 2019 that the Tories would “fix the crisis in social care once and for all”.Keir Starmer later faced backlash after his party dropped plans for a £86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England would have to spend on their personal care across their lifetime.Still, Burnham’s words were welcomed by Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care and will join the PM at his speech.She will launch the Big Conversation on Care to give the public the opportunity to weigh in on the future of adult social care in England.Casey said: “For too long, we have been stuck in the same cycle: crisis, promises of reform, another review, and then retreat, while the people who need care, and their families, bear the brunt.“Fixing adult social care is about far more than money. People are already paying for failure through council tax, pressure on the NHS, their savings, giving up work, and the forced sale of their homes. The choice is whether we keep putting money into a system that is unfair, unpredictable and broken, or have an honest conversation about how to build something better.“That is why we need a public conversation on care that tackles the tough questions. It’s only by facing up to this problem together that we can fix social care once and for all.”Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.Related...More Polls Chart Reform's Slump As Andy Burnham's Boost With Voters ContinuesAndy Burnham Unveils Biggest Schools Reform For 15 Years With Shift Away From University RouteEx-Minister Slams Burnham's Decision To 'Unceremoniously Sack Competent People' From Government
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