UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to use his political influence to overhaul England\u2019s struggling social care system, saying fixing the sector is essential to prevent the National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
Burnham said reforming social care would be one of his biggest priorities in office, even though creating an entirely new system would take time.<\/p>\n
Burnham, who became prime minister last week, said he was determined not to leave office without delivering meaningful changes to a sector that successive governments have failed to reform.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
He argued that delays in fixing social care have placed growing pressure on hospitals, contributing to long NHS waiting lists and increasing costs for the public health system.<\/p>\n
In his first full interview since taking office, with the BBC, Burnham said he would move as quickly as possible on social care reforms, while acknowledging that building a completely new system could not happen overnight.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ll use whatever political capital I have\u2019<\/p>\n
Burnham said he remained committed to a promise he had made long before becoming prime minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever political capital I have, I will put into fixing broken social care,\u201d he said, adding that he did not want to leave office without introducing substantial reforms.<\/p>\n
While he declined to set a timeline for a new social care system, Burnham warned that failing to act would have serious consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who\u2019ve not really needed to end up in the NHS system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that significant improvements could still be made before the next general election, even if a complete overhaul takes longer.<\/p>\n
Benefits system also set for reform<\/p>\n
Burnham also said the government must become \u201creally serious\u201d about reducing welfare spending, but stressed that he did not want to blame people who rely on benefits.<\/p>\n
He argued that many young people claiming benefits had been failed by inadequate support earlier in their lives, particularly those struggling with mental health or lacking access to employment opportunities.<\/p>\n
Instead of cutting support, Burnham said he wanted to reform the system by linking benefits more closely to training, employment and mental health assistance.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
He suggested that some benefits could come with stronger conditions, while ensuring that people receive the support needed to return to work.<\/p>\n
Fiscal discipline remains a priority<\/p>\n
The prime minister also pledged to stick to Labour\u2019s existing fiscal rules and honour the party\u2019s 2024 election manifesto, ruling out any immediate changes to tax or spending plans.<\/p>\n
Asked about issues such as introducing a wealth tax or increasing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, Burnham said it was too early to make such decisions, noting that he had been in office for only a few days.<\/p>\n
He said any future policy changes would need to remain consistent with Labour\u2019s election commitments.<\/p>\n
Burnham also pointed to his appointment of John Healey as chancellor as evidence of his commitment to strengthening defence spending, while saying that decisions on timelines would come later.<\/p>\n
His comments come as pressure continues to mount for long-promised reforms to England\u2019s social care system, an issue that has repeatedly challenged governments over the past two decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to use his political influence to overhaul England\u2019s struggling social care…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73961],"tags":[28914,77020,18299,3182,385,10011,73816,1768,77021],"class_list":["post-167682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-andy-burnham","tag-andy-burnham","tag-andy-burnham-social-care-reform","tag-england","tag-healthcare","tag-labour","tag-nhs","tag-social-care-system","tag-uk-prime-minister","tag-welfare-reform"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116991764196804199","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}