Badenoch to skip Burnham's social care talks over short notice

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has invited Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey to cross-party talks on social care tomorrow. He says fixing the system is an urgent task. The invitations were sent today for a meeting tomorrow, giving party leaders about 18 hours' notice for a 30-minute session during the parliamentary recess.

Kemi Badenoch will not attend. Conservative sources say the short notice is unreasonable and that she has a pre-planned minor operation during the recess. One source said the move looked like it was only being done for show. Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew will attend instead. Downing Street says Burnham is committed to cross-party working and expects further meetings with party leaders in the coming months, even if tomorrow's meeting cannot be arranged with all leaders.

Ed Davey will join by Zoom. He is in France and has said he needs to be with his disabled son to care for him. He is supportive of the talks.

The meeting comes amid reports of a possible death tax to fund social care reform. The Daily Telegraph front page says 'workers face a new tax to fund social care'. Burnham did not rule out such a levy yesterday. Critics say he has no mandate to tax life savings.

Conservative shadow health secretary Kieran Mullan said the cross-party process is not new. He said talks have been going on since the Louise Casey review and that the Shadow Health Secretary has attended in good faith. He added that if the proposals mean more tax, more spending and more borrowing, they will not be right. Any plan accepted by the public must be fair to people who save, own their home or put money aside, he said.

Reform UK also attacked the plans. Robert Jenrick said he was not surprised Nigel Farage had not been invited. He said Nigel Farage would fight the tax rise all the way. He claimed Ed Davey and Kemi Badenoch were going along with it, and said Burnham has no mandate to tax the life savings of hundreds of thousands of families. Nigel Farage said it was remarkable that Burnham had ignored a party that has led over 300 national opinion polls and represents thousands of councillors and millions of voters.

Social care reform has a long history of failure. There have been 22 attempts to fix the system. Burnham's own 2010 proposals were characterised by opponents as a death tax. Theresa May's 2017 proposals were characterised by Labour as a dementia tax. Those rows have left the system unreformed.

The announcement also includes a website for public comments. Critics described the package as thin, saying it amounts to inviting two politicians to a meeting and asking the public for views. Supporters say Burnham is ready to spend political capital on the issue and that the public expects parties to work together.

The current system places heavy costs on families. People who need care can be stuck in hospital because there is no funded bed or place. Families can be forced to sell homes to pay fees, which can reach around £1,500 a week. Some argue that any new levy should fall after death because working people cannot pay more tax. Others say the unfairness is that people who never owned a home or saved get state support, while those who did lose their assets.