Jenrick Attacks Burnham Over A Tax The PM Has Not Actually Launched

Robert Jenrick has accused Andy Burnham of launching a “death tax” to pay for his social care reforms.

But the government has not actually confirmed any new levies linked to fixing the struggling sector.

The prime minister held a press conference on Wednesday to reveal his three-point plan to overhaul the broken care system.

That includes speeding up an independent review for how to set up a national care service, prioritising the workforce, and launching cross-party talks with the Lib Dems and the Tories.

Neither Reform nor the Greens were invited to Burnham’s discussions about fixing social care yesterday.

Reform leader Nigel Farage said it was clear the PM “is conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment to foist further tax rises on the country.”

But the Conservatives have insisted they will only work with the government if it rules out further tax rises.

Burnham also called for political unity on Wednesday.

He said: “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.”

But in a press conference on Thursday, Jenrick – Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson – claimed Burnham has spent the last two decades pushing to introduce a new so-called “death tax”.

The Labour politician has previously backed the idea of a blanket 10% levy on inheritance when he was health secretary under Gordon Brown.

However Downing Street has said this week “there are no plans for this”.

“If that was his sole aim, there are other ways to fund it, like cutting foreign aid or benefits for migrants. No,” Jenrick said.

“He’s shown again and again that he thinks the savings that you’ve earned, no matter how little that you’ve scrimped and saved for. Whether you’re rich or poor, he says, the tax man deserves a bit more.”

Jenrick said Burnham was “Labour’s answer to the Pied Piper”, who is “playing an enticing tune but actually leading… our country into more desperate trouble.”

He continued: “Andy Burnham knows rightly, to be fair, that [Reform] will never go along with a betrayal of people who’ve paid in their whole lives. And make no mistake, that is what Andy Burnham is planning to do. That is the purpose of the talks that the other parties are now engaged in.”

He claimed Burnham’s new tax, on top of inheritance tax, would “cost families almost £30 billion a year”, describing it as a “truly extreme proposal”.

He said while the social care system “needs to change”.

He claimed Burnham is also looking to scrap technology used to consolidate patient details and help hospitals, GPs and the care system communicate.

That tech is provided by Palantir which also provides software for the Israeli Defence Forces.

Jenrick said the prime minister is “going to scrap the tech that’s actually working to help discharge in hospital” because the “British Islamists were unhappy about it” and Burnham wants to “get a few votes back”.

He claimed his party would keep the technology in place, cut benefits overseas aid and funding for quangos, and “pay care workers properly”.

“This country does not lack money for care. It lacks a government with the courage and determination to put its own people first,” the Newark MP said.

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