Andy Burnham: ‘I am talking about a system that works on NHS principles’
Speaking to the BBC from Labour’s conference this morning, the Prime Minister proposed a free national care service, and hinted that he would outline some sort of tax rise to pay for it at the next general election. Andy Burnham said he would be the one to ‘grasp the nettle’ on social care reform, even if it meant spending ‘political capital’. The PM argued that the care and health systems ‘just don’t connect’, leaving thousands of people arriving in A&E every day, the most expensive part of the system. He said he would propose a national care service that works on NHS principles and is ‘universal’. Kuenssberg asked whether this meant free personal care for everyone in England who needs it. Burnham did not directly confirm this, but said it was not right that people in England do not get the same free personal care as is available in Scotland. He said reform would not be rushed because the pressures on the public finances are ‘real’, but warned that ‘broken social care’ would eventually break the NHS. When Kuenssberg pressed Burnham on whether Burnham intended to raise taxes, he argued that people are already paying a ‘huge cost’ for care, but admitted that the new system would be one where ‘everyone contributes’.
Angela Rayner: ‘There’s no split story there’
Ahead of Labour’s conference, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner had criticised Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plans to change visa rules, saying the proposals were unfair because they shift the ‘goalposts years down the line’. Today, however, Rayner insisted there was no division in the government. On Sky News, Kate McCann put it to Rayner that she was already ‘causing trouble’ for her party at the start of conference. Rayner said she had contributed to Mahmood’s consultation on transitional arrangements, and that she had ‘absolute support’ for the Home Secretary, who she claimed was doing a ‘fantastic job’. McCann noted that one MP had said in the papers that the prime minister should remind Rayner of the benefits of keeping her mouth closed, and asked if ‘collective responsibility is dead’. Rayner said Andy Burnham had promised to ‘do politics differently’, which meant having conversations with other politicians. McCann asked what was hopeful about Labour once again arguing in public about immigration. Rayner said the party was not having an argument, and pointed to falls in net migration and small boat crossings. She added that she was sure Mahmood would reach a conclusion that reflects what the British public want.
Chris Philp: ‘We do not support tax increases’
Laura Kuenssberg asked Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp whether the Conservatives would support the Prime Minister’s social care plans. Philp said the Conservatives would not support any tax increases, claiming high taxes are already destroying jobs, bankrupting businesses and driving successful people overseas. He said that if more money was needed for social care or defence, the Tories would find it through savings elsewhere, particularly in the welfare budget, which he described as ‘totally out of control’. Philp accused the prime minister of not being prepared to make difficult decisions on welfare, and claimed that comments from Labour’s Darren Jones on Kuenssberg’s panel had effectively acknowledged that the UK is overtaxed.
Mary Lou McDonald: ‘This is madness’
An independent adjudicator ruled on Friday that a smaller version of the Drumcree Orange Order march could take place today, for the first time since 1998. The decision sparked outrage from nationalists and republicans, with thousands of protestors blocking the parade route in Portadown this morning. Speaking to Sky News reporters, the president of Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald, said people had gathered in large numbers because they were ‘angry’ and ‘devastated’. McDonald claimed the decision threatened to set the area back almost 30 years and revisit the trauma the community had endured. She called on the Northern Ireland Secretary and the Chief Constable of the PSNI to intervene and stop the march, describing it as ‘intolerable’. McDonald said the protest had been peaceful and ‘dignified’, and that the community was determined not to be ‘drawn back into the past’. She added that Sinn Féin would ‘face down anybody’ who sought to damage or disrupt the peace process, and praised the young people of the community as ‘a credit to Ireland’. Speaking to Kate McCann, Angela Rayner said the situation was a ‘matter for the courts’, and on the BBC, Andy Burnham appealed for ‘calm’.
Chris Philp: ‘Under new leadership we’ve got a new approach’
On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp how the Home Office under the last Conservative government had granted asylum to a man who had been a bodyguard to a Hamas leader. Tominey said viewers would rightly ask why the Tories had not stopped it at the time, rather than now calling for measures such as leaving the ECHR. Philp said the party now had a new leader and a new approach, and admitted that what happened under the previous government ‘was wrong’ and ‘should not have happened’. He said the Conservatives had diagnosed why these problems occurred and now had a detailed plan to ‘dismantle the legal system’ around immigration. Philp claimed Labour did not want to solve the issue because of its ‘fanatically left wing, open borders’ MPs, and argued that Reform ‘say the right things’ but lack a credible plan.
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