Andy Burnham vows to use his ‘political capital’ to fix social care system

Andy Burnham told the BBC he would ‘go as quickly as I can on the reform of social care’. Photograph: Jeff Overs/Reuters View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham told the BBC he would ‘go as quickly as I can on the reform of social care’. Photograph: Jeff Overs/Reuters Andy Burnham vows to use his ‘political capital’ to fix social care system PM says that without rapid action the NHS could effectively collapse, in first full interview since entering No 10 Andy Burnham has pledged to use “whatever political capital I have” to finally fix the crumbling social care system in England, saying that without rapid action the NHS could effectively collapse. In his first full interview since becoming prime minister last week, Burnham said he could not put a timetable on the arrival of a new system for social care but that its creation would take time. Burnham has repeatedly said he hopes to properly tackle a political issue that has been repeatedly neglected by governments, highlighting personal experience with his father, who has Alzheimer’s disease and requires care. Asked whether he would create an entirely new system for social care before the next election, the prime minister told the BBC he would go as quickly as he could on its “reform”. He added that a completely new system would take time. “I think there are major changes you can make before the next election. This costs the NHS billions of pounds, and we will never get the NHS back to good waiting time standards until we fix social care,” he said. The UK’s first TikTok PM? Andy Burnham channels Zohran Mamdani as he hits social media Read more Asked whether he had the necessary political will to make this happen, Burnham said he had promised previously to tackle the issue and “I won’t change coming into this job”. He said: “I’m not going to take different positions than the ones I’ve long put to you in interviews. Whatever political capital I have, I will put into fixing broken social care, and I would not want to leave office without having brought in the substantial change, the new system of social care that you described. “I can’t put a timeline on it right here, right now. If we don’t do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve not really needed to end up in the NHS system.” Burnham also said the UK had to “get really serious as a country” about reducing the amount spent on social security and other benefits. However, he added that he did not want to demonise people who claimed social security. Asked whether there were people claiming benefits who, in his view, did not need them, he replied: “Well, I wouldn’t necessarily go straight to blaming those people. What I would say is that there are people in the benefits system, young people in their 20s, who have been, I would say, quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there. Burnham v Starmer: one week in, how do their leadership styles compare? Read more “So I