To think Andy Burnham is doing a decent job so far?

[spiceupyourlives]

I’m really impressed by him working with the tories and Lib Dems on social care. It’s what we’ve needed more of in this country for so long, and a solution to the crisis will only come about if the next party to take charge is also committed to the solution.

Yep, I’ve been pleasantly surprised so far. He feels fresh at least with some different ideas.

Right now all he’s talked about is spending money. Yes, for things that urgently need money spending on but we don’t have it as a country. I want to see where the growth is going to come from and how this is all going be funded or is this just another socialist utopian idea?

So far nothing from the labour government that will stimulate growth and only measures that are frankly causing wealth to leave the country

This!! There’s literally no good reason to moan about this. If all the main parties work together it would be so much better for the people of this country

I've seen a couple of people say Reform should have been included. On what grounds? They have 7 MPs so are really a minority party. Would you like to include all parties with 7 or more MPs? So Sinn Fein and the SNP? And of course including Reform would need to not mean Farage since he's not an MP.

And why is that a bad thing? He is trying to reach the people of our country, all generations in as quick a timeframe as possible.

I'm no fan of social media but it's the right thing to do to make early impact. He can't be accused of spending months and months behind closed doors. He is starting to build his party's priorities around really important issues that haven't been addressed by successive government, not least of all Adult Social Care, which has been a political football for generations.

JFC he hasn’t “done” anything yet except make an announcement a day. Currently it’s all just talk.

I think its because they have a high vote share, people think they are representative of a significant portion of the population, and erroneously believe this should give them influence. They don't seem to fully understand that power depends on seat share.

It's all talk so far plus it's unfunded plus he is already massively hinting that he is going to go against the Labour manifesto in which they promised not to raise taxes

If I was Keir Starmer I would be incensed because he tied himself in knots and made decisions that were unpopular (,national insurance rise on businesses) to avoid just putting up taxes and here comes Burnham seemingly full of great ideas all of which will need funding through extra taxes from us all - unless people can see him getting funding in different ways?

Yes, it will be great if he can do the things he is promising but until he explains how he is going to fund them, what's the point?

And is it ok to just go against the manifesto promise not to raise tax?
Is everyone who voted Labour in hoping that they weren't going to be the usual "tax high, spend high" kind of Labour government going to be ok with this?

Enjoy the Burnham bounce whilst it lasts.

It will not survive first contact with reality, however. This Labour government will soon return to SNAFU.

Exactly. It’s only been 5 minutes!

No I’m not impressed so far. What about some reduction or cap on my train fares, a £4500
payout for me would’ve been nice for my daughter going to uni that doesn’t have to be paid back - she commutes from home so all my costs are the same as before, I’d like to see some idea of where this spending on a small part of society is coming from whilst the rest of us continue with extortionate train fares and being squeezed for every penny we earn before I say he’s doing a job job

It may be all talk but at least someone is actually talking about social care. And freezing out private investors who are hoovering up money from adults’ and children’s care homes. Burnham is right that politicians of all colours should be ashamed it’s taken so long and gotten so bad.

The tech education idea is much more suited to my son, so happy with that! Pray it rolls out sooner rather than later.

Plus, I can boast I’ve shaken hands with our PM. Back in the day, he shook hands with everyone in his ministerial department. No other minister did that.

This is exactly it, and the small incentives like the bus fares and energy vat I think we will see an election soon. He’s vote buying, and we will all know about it when it’s too late

Social Care is devolved so no point including the Scottish or NI parties.

I see in the news this morning hes postponing anything to do with assisted dying bill until the social care system is sorted out. So, thats been kicked into the never never then.

Tbf I was specifically asking the person who said reform should be there. I'd love to know who from reform she would like to see there.

Hear hear or here here ( I never know which one it is ) totally totally agree !!
they should all be ashamed that nothings been done and not have petty arguments now so it draws out forever.

Numerous PMs have been talking about it. Teresa May lost her majority because she made fixing it a core manifesto pledge.

The best summary I heard so far is that current model means care is paid for at the cost of inheritance rather than shared by everyone. It is essentially an inheritance tax but the amount you pay depends on how much you need care. This means that any change to widen the funding means it is whose who might inherit (who by definition are the better off) who benefit and those who wouldn't inherit that will be worse off. Labour will stuggle to solve it since any solution will be less "socialist".

Ten percent tax blanket tax on inheritance won’t really hurt anyone? Agree on Starmer though he was doing a good job . I like AB too that said.

He’s clearly very likeable and competent but not sure he’s PM level competent, and I don’t want to go back to 1970 (and nobody outside of his constituency voted for him).

Too early to tell how he's doing when it's unfavourable feedback. Not too early to tell when it's favourable. I'm not surprised at the vote.

Teresa May was not in a position to do much about it as she was battered by Brexit shenanigans. Let’s give AB a decent run at it before dismissing him.

But is that going against the manifesto which got Labour into power?

I liked Starmer and think given time he would have proved his worth, indeed he was in many ways, it just wasn't reported.

It feels too easy to just jump in with all these unfunded ideas and the hints of tax rises (the old "difficult decisions" quote yesterday screams of that) - Starmer could have done that but he was sticking to the manifesto pledges.

I find it annoying because all it will mean in the long run is that Labour will become unpopular again & will lose the next election when we could have been a bit more considered (which Starmer was) & been in longer.
I fear Burnham will be popular for a short time but as soon as it hits people in the pocket, which it will have to with all his plans, then it will be a different story.

But I would love to be wrong.

There is no solution to this that will not cost money and that the public (or should I say anti Labour press) will not therefore dislike. He is at least conducting a formal consultation with other parties to reach a consensus in a bit to stop short term ism on this subject.

As for Streeting would anyone like to comment on the Omni Shambles that is the NHS restructuring with the removal of NHS England, and its impact on commissioning services?