Kemi Badenoch has written to Andy Burnham demanding the prime minister rule out any tax rises or increased borrowing to fund social care reform, warning that the Conservatives will only back a solution funded by cutting current spending.
In a letter sent to Burnham on Sunday, the Conservative leader said she was happy to work with him on reforming adult social care but only if it abides by what she called “two core principles”. The first, she wrote, was fairness to those who have “made provisions and saved up over the course of their lives”. The second required the money to be found by reducing spending elsewhere – not through new taxes or borrowing that would “ultimately fall on the next generation to pay for”.
“Kemi Badenoch tells PM Andy Burnham Tories will only back social care reform if funded by spending cuts, not tax rises.”
“With businesses closing or relocating, youth unemployment higher than in the eurozone, and the cost of living already causing real hardship for many people, the last thing Britain needs is further tax increases to pay for social care,” Badenoch said, echoing concerns about the economic backdrop.
Burnham is expected to make a major speech on adult social care this Wednesday, part of his plan, according to a No 10 source, to “run towards problems that have been neglected”. The prime minister has previously vowed to use “whatever political capital I have” to fix the system, which he first proposed reforming in 2009 when he was health secretary under Gordon Brown.
Speaking ahead of the speech, Burnham acknowledged that no party had the high ground. “On this issue, no party is in a position where they’ve got the high ground,” he said. “We’ve all failed on this issue, over decades, and the pressure now on the National Health Service as a result of that failure is huge.”
Burnham has pledged to explore a system free at the point of use, operating on the NHS principle. Other options include a care costs cap – less attractive to him but cheaper – or a model similar to Scotland’s, where personal care costs are paid by the state but accommodation and food are borne by individuals and their families.
However, senior Labour and Liberal Democrat figures have privately cast doubt on Burnham’s ability to find a cross-party consensus given the terms set by the Tories. The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, who has pushed for reform, said on Saturday: “This has to be the start of a real effort to end the social care catastrophe.”
Labour MPs have broadly welcomed the prospect of reform, though several cautioned that serious consideration would need to be given to protecting people from losing their homes to care costs or penalising those who had already saved for retirement. Burnham said he would try to start with short-term agreements between parties and then build towards a longer-term solution.
“I would like to see if we could arrange talks, cross-party talks, to build that spirit of collaboration from the start,” he said. “This issue requires a solution that is lasting, cross-party, and is one that the country can support. So the more we go forward on that basis, the better.”
For now, the prime minister faces a familiar obstacle: how to fund a fix for a broken system without breaking his pledge not to raise taxes, and without losing the opposition’s support.
