Andy Burnham Vows To Set Up Free Social Care In England

Andy Burnham has promised to set up free social care in England if Labour wins the next general election.

However, the prime minister said it cannot be developed without consensus, and so he would put the plan to the public at the next general election.

Burnham said that meant he would, for now, be sticking to Keir Starmer’s manifesto which secured a landslide victory for Labour in July 2024.

He said: “We stick to the manifesto because I have to keep people’s trust and there are commitments in this manifesto that would make it hard [to set up free social care].”

Burnham was alluding to Starmer’s promise not to hike the main rates of VAT, income tax or National Insurance contributions for employees.

The prime minister said the system would be free at the point of use for everyone with “precise explanation as to how it is going to be funded”.

He added that while some might see this vow as making a “rod for his own back”, he had no intention of doing “politics as usual”.

“Why is the country in the position that it’s in? Because politics have let people down,” Burnham said.

He also claimed the annual cost is “not as high” as some claims which put it at £18 billion a year though the details are yet to be hashed out.

He said: “The challenge in public finances is real so it has to be done carefully to avoid putting pressure on the public purse.”

When the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg suggested his major pledges so far had not been fully funded, Burnham said his proposals stop public money being spent further down the line.

“If you support people with bus fares, you support people into jobs and training,” he said.

“The policies are carefully thought through because they are policies which are quite productive because of the effect they have. They then reduce pressure on the wider public purse.”

The next general election is not scheduled until 2029, as Labour won a landslide majority in July 2024.

Burnham has also ruled out sending the public to the ballot box following the party’s revival in the opinion polls.

He said on Friday that he was “not particularly” tempted to call an early election, saying he would “knock that [idea] dead”.

He told ITV Calendar: “You know, people want me, new in office, to be getting on with the job of delivering on the things that we’ve discussed, rather than putting self-serving politics before that, which was what I would be doing if I call an election. I’m not going to do that.”

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