Nigel Farage Fumes Over Being Left Out Of Andy Burnham’s Cross-Party Social Care Talks

Nigel Farage has furiously hit out at Andy Burnham after the prime minister did not invite the Reform leader to cross-party talks on fixing social care.

The PM asked Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey to help him “problem-solve” the crisis later today.

He did not extend the invitation to Reform, the Green Party or the SNP.

Farage – who is not a sitting MP right now having triggered a by-election in his own Clacton constituency – claimed the PM was “conspiring” with the main parties.

He said: ”If Andy Burnham is serious about putting politics aside to solve Britain’s biggest problems, it’s remarkable that he’s chosen to ignore Reform.

“He is conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment to foist further tax rises on the country.

“The fact Ed Davey and Kemi Badenoch are going along with this tells you all you need to know. This is the uniparty in action.”

Reform’s Treasury spokesperson, Robert Jenrick, also attacked the prime minister.

Jenrick said: “I’m not surprised that Andy Burnham hasn’t invited Nigel Farage.

“If he had, Nigel would have told him he’d fight this tax rise all the way.

“That Ed Davey and Kemi Badenoch are going along with this tells you all you need to know about their parties.

“Andy Burnham has no mandate to tax the life savings of hundreds of thousands of families.

“So instead of having the decency to ask the public if they’ve changed their mind about a policy they’ve rejected four times, he’s conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment to foist it on the country.

“If we need to, Reform will stand alone to fight this cruel tax. Nigel and I will not see millions of families betrayed like this.”

Badenoch has actually made it clear she would oppose any tax rises or increases to borrowing to pay for social care reforms.

Until recently, Reform had led every opinion poll for more than a year.

But Burnham’s move into No.10 and growing scrutiny over Farage’s finances have shifted the polls in Labour’s favour, even giving the party the lead over Reform in at least two different surveys.

Reform has seven MPs right now as Farage is not in the Commons.

Meanwhile, the Tories have 117 MPs, making party leader Badenoch also the leader of the opposition.

The Lib Dems have 71 MPs, meaning they are the third largest party in the House.

Badenoch is not able to attend so the Tory shadow health secretary is attending in her place, while Davey is away and will be tuning in via Zoom.

Labour has a majority in the Commons already so Burnham does not necessarily need the support of MPs from other parties to get legislation through the House.

However, Burnham has promised to create an atmosphere of unity and offered to use his “political capital” to implement real changes to social care.

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.