Badenoch has some totally serious conditions before working with Burnham on social care…

Good news everybody, Kemi Badenoch wants to work with PM Andy Burnham to fix social care. Only, the leader of the least relevant opposition party in recent memory has some demands that she’s definitely in a position to make…

The Guardian reported yesterday, 27 July, that the new Labour leader is seeking long-lasting change for UK social care. That change is certainly needed – Age UK estimates that as many as 2 million older people currently have unmet social care needs in England alone.

As such, Burnham’s offered to work collaboratively with other parties to make a plan. He stated that:

I want to build a different way of doing politics with more problem solving, less point scoring, and credit to the leaders of the two main parties, Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey, both of whom have reached out over the weekend to say they’re prepared to engage in talks.

On this issue, no party is in a position where they’ve got the high ground. 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.

Credit to Kemi Badenoch, ay? We’re sure that the Tory leader is being magnanimous and fair-minded about the whole process.

Big scary numbers…

Fortunately, we don’t have to speculate too hard. Badenoch took to social media to publish a letter to Burnham containing her demands that very same day. She began:

I read that you are preparing to make an announcement on social care – a hugely important issue for so many people and one that matters a lot to me.

But, as you know, previous efforts to form a durable consensus around social care has [sic] not been at all simple. Adult care spending alone is already £35 billion a year and is only set to rise given our ageing society.

Wow, £35bn a year sure sounds like a big scary number, doesn’t it? However, it’s considerably less shocking in the context of other areas of government spending.

Say, just for example, last year’s £60.2bn defence expenditure. In fact, the Ministry of Defence spent £27.4bn on equipment alone. That’s not soldiers or staff – it’s £27bn on boots, guns and tanks.

We note that, earlier this month, Badenoch criticised that defence spending for being too low under Keir Starmer. As usual, the money for bombs obeys completely different rules compared to the money for silly little things like looking after older people.

Badenoch’s ‘two core principles’

Fortunately, the Tory leader is “happy to work with” Burnham on reforming social care anyway. However, there’s a catch. She’ll only support a solution that “abides by two core principles”:

First, any solution to the issues around social care must also be fair to those who have made provisions and saved up over the course of their lives.

Second, the money must be found by reducing current spending. You must rule out any tax rises, or increased borrowing that will ultimately fall on the next generation to pay for.

‘Fix the problem, but don’t you dare try and spend new money on it’. That just screams ‘good faith’ from Badenoch, doesn’t it?

Health Foundation analysis suggests that the options for fixing social care would cost between £4bn and £18.5bn a year within the decade. Given that the Tories proposed slashing welfare by £23bn last year, we can imagine where Badenoch wants to find that social care money from.

In her letter to Burnham, Badenoch went on to highlight the differences between the two parties’ budget approaches:

Compared to the last Conservative government’s budget plans, spending in 2028/29 alone will be £152 billion higher (that’s 11% above what was planned in that year under the Conservatives). As a result, taxes will be £105 billion higher (up 8%) and borrowing will be £47 billion higher (more than double previous plans).

Shocking, isn’t it? However, ‘we planned to spend 11% less’ is a valid criticism if – and only if – your plan would have worked. And, given the Conservatives’ track record, we can say with certainty that their plan would have been the nail in the coffin of social care.

Bringing social care ‘to its knees’

The Tories had 14 years in power, ending just 2 years ago, in which they completely and utterly eviscerated social care through severe, chronic underfunding. In fact, at the end of the Tories’ reign, the cross-party public accounts committee declared that:

Years of fragmented funding and the absence of a clear roadmap has brought the adult social care sector to its knees. Waiting lists are rising, the sector is short tens of thousands of essential staff, and local authority finances are being placed under an unsustainable amount of pressure.

Badenoch concluded her letter by stating:

I hope we can find common ground on this and I look forward to working with you on this vital issue.

Hardly the words of a politician who should be surprised that anyone even asked her to join the discussion, considering that her party took the wrecking ball to social care in the first place. But then, if she had any shame, Badenoch wouldn’t be a Conservative in the first place, would she?

Featured image via the Canary