{"id":96032,"date":"2026-08-03T03:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T03:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/96032\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T03:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T03:47:19","slug":"andy-burnhams-levy-on-all-estates-would-be-the-fairest-option-to-ensure-social-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/96032\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Andy Burnham’s levy on all estates would be the fairest option to ensure social care’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dead can\u2019t take wealth with them, as my mam is fond of saying, so a levy on estates would be a fair way to fund Andy Burnham<\/a>\u2019s free social care revolution.<\/p>\n

I tell my own brood they\u2019d be extremely lucky to be charged inheritance tax<\/a> because it would mean the three were sharing upwards of \u00a3500,000 and 95% leave less or absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

Slap on a 10% social care surcharge, a rate Burnham toyed with 16 years ago<\/a>, and my lot would still be banking wads of moolah they never earned. Crucially, it would be a potentially far larger sum than me spending all my savings then flogging the Costa del Tyne house to fund exorbitantly expensive dotage help.<\/p>\n

Reform critics waving skeletons with HMRC tax notices and Conservatives objecting to any tax to fund free care are proving empty vessels make most noise. For many, many families, pay-after-you-go would be cheaper and guarantee most of an estate survives to pass on instead of some old and frail losing virtually everything over \u00a323,250 in England.<\/p>\n

Depleted savings and lost houses wouldn\u2019t happen in Burnham\u2019s new caring world<\/a> yet there are alternatives to an inheritance levy. Remodelling private pension subsidies to boost tax relief from 20% to 25% for lower and middle earners and cutting it from 40% for higher earners could generate up to \u00a320billion, one study says.<\/p>\n

Equalising Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax could raise \u00a312bn, says Wes Streeting. Then there is a \u00a310bn 2% annual wealth tax on the 1,000 super-rich with upwards of \u00a3100m each, or the \u00a324bn version championed by Patriotic Millionaires UK on those with more than \u00a310m.<\/p>\n

Creating a National Care Service alongside the NHS<\/a> to deliver care free where needed would be a landmark achievement.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll discover how radical this PM is against opponents who squeal against a death tax and produce no solutions to end folk going without care or losing savings and homes.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham’s vision has been branded a ‘death tax’ <\/p>\n

Reform past its peak<\/p>\n

Busy arguing with a bin in Clacton while his dodgy money troubles mount, King of Sleaze Nigel Farage<\/a> glimpsed a grim future for himself, despite never setting foot in Greater Manchester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The gloss is truly wiped from Farage, Reform down if not yet out, a party past its peak.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham\u2019s resurrected Labour<\/a> Party is leading in some opinion polls and the Greater Manchester Mayor contest showed why tactical voting and far-right enemy Restore may end Nauseous Nigel\u2019s No10 dream.<\/p>\n

The most significant figure wasn\u2019t Mayor Bev Craig\u2019s 47.1%\u201321.0% first-round lead over Reform but the run-off 66.3%\u201333.7% lapping, as many Greens, Lib Dems<\/a> and some moderate Tories voted Labour to stop Farage.<\/p>\n

Come the next general election<\/a>, when we put a single X on the ballot paper, tactical voting might be the widest ever (I\u2019ve voted tactically in the past) with people more motivated by who they definitely don\u2019t want rather than who they do.<\/p>\n

That, plus racist Restore\u2019s concerning 9% in polls, is why a slipping Farage could be spending more time with other people\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/p>\n

Opinion polls make grim reading for Nigel Farage’s party(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Badenoch running out of energy<\/p>\n

Accused of peddling North Sea oil and gas lies as boiling Britain and Europe burn, Kemi Badenoch<\/a> appears a fossil fool on the wrong side of net zero arguments.<\/p>\n

Even traditional Tories, horrified at the world going up in flames, are turning against a leader purging her party of politicians embracing a cheaper, cleaner, more secure renewable future.<\/p>\n

Tory energy spokeswoman Claire Coutinho admitted that increasing North Sea output won\u2019t necessarily knock a penny off bills, while the Uplift transition group destroyed Badenoch\u2019s highly misleading pollution arguments.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of Britons still back the goal to reach net zero by 2050 or earlier.<\/p>\n

So, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh wins the arguments, and it will be fossil fools like Badenoch and Reform who are burned.<\/p>\n

\"Suella<\/p>\n

Suella Braverman claimed the migrants whom reached Spain were heading for the UK(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Braverman was scaremongering<\/p>\n

Nearly all 60,000 who entered Spain\u2019s enclave of Ceuta from Morocco and returned over the border didn\u2019t stop twice-sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman<\/a> scaremongering.<\/p>\n

The claim from a Reform Tory that \u201cmake no mistake, these men are on their way to the UK right now\u201d was fundamentally dishonest.<\/p>\n

People can\u2019t travel from Ceuta into mainland Spain without a passport or permission, while experience tells us only a tiny proportion may risk travelling across Europe to the Channel moat.<\/p>\n

Her post reminds me of Farage\u2019s 2016 Brexit<\/a> \u201cBreaking Point\u201d poster of Syrian refugees on Slovenia\u2019s border.<\/p>\n

MP Jo Cox was killed by a far-right murderer on the same day.<\/p>\n

Does Braverman care about the truth and consequences of her words? Or does she only crave power, unconcerned by consequences? The latter is suggested by her \u201cinvasion\u201d rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham congratulated Bev Craig on becoming Greater Manchester Mayor (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Going up<\/p>\n

Bitter beaten rivals now pretending Labour new Mayor Bev Craig\u2019s comfortable Greater Manchester conquest wasn\u2019t remarkable can\u2019t even kid themselves when a month ago Farage scented Reform victory. Long live the Queen of the North!<\/p>\n

Going down<\/p>\n

If the Tory Party infiltrated a double agent into Reform to destroy their Hard Right competitor from the inside he would look and sound very much like Robert \u201cHonest Bob\u201d Jenrick, a former EU champion and failed Immigration Minister as credible as a 19p coin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dead can\u2019t take wealth with them, as my mam is fond of saying, so a levy on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7786,3749,2312,38895,14,3671,73,5,6],"class_list":["post-96032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-andy-burnham","tag-inheritance-tax","tag-nhs","tag-plus","tag-politics","tag-social-care","tag-tax","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117029532088924078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}