Andy Burnham's new social care system handed expiry date by ex-Labour minister

Andy Burnham's newly announced plans for a National Care Service has been handed an expiry date by a former Labour Cabinet Minister.

Speaking to GB News, Shaun Woodward pinpointed just how long the Prime Minister has to set out an implement his reforms of the care system.

Announcing the changes at the Labour Party Conference, Mr Burnham announced plans to axe the triple lock in favour of "no care charges" and a "high quality national care service to give peace of mind in later life".

He said: "Conference, I am going to go out and argue for that, a good deal for our pensioners and for older people in the 21st century, and I will do it.

"I will do it in memory of my dad and out of complete respect for everyone who cared for him."

Delivering his verdict on the plans, Mr Woodward told GB News that Mr Burnham has "a lot of work to do" before the next general election, which he predicts will take place within the next few years.

He said: "It is now probably less than two years before I think there'll be a general election in May or June of 2028. There's a lot of work to be done to get all this into place, and we actually have to look at the detail of what social care would look like.

"We have to look at what the detail of the savings that would come out of changing from the triple lock to what might be now best described as the double lock."

The ex-Labour minister questioned how much the new care system is going to cost the Government.

He explained: "The Prime Minister has given the reassurance that the double lock will mean either inflation or 2.5 per cent each year, whichever is higher.

"We know from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that we are talking about saving probably around £20billion a year by the time we get to 2050. So what's the social care package going to cost? What would it look like?"

Mr Woodward predicted that the PM has less than two years to iron out all possible issues and flaws with his proposed plan.

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He stated: "I think what this means is we've got 18 to 24 months for the Prime Minister to sketch out in real detail, not just the back of an envelope, what this means, how it would be paid for."

Comparing the plans to those of Theresa May in scrapping the triple lock, Mr Woodward made clear that the Prime Minister's plan would actually "give something back" to elderly Britons.

He told GB News: "I think a very important point here is the comparison that's been drawn, where Theresa May speculated with ending the triple lock and she faced a big penalty from the voters for it.

"What Andy Burnham has done, which is very different from Theresa May, is to say, I'm doing this so I can fund social care.

"In other words, you're getting something significant and possibly bigger back for that, and that's the big difference with Theresa May."

Mr Woodward argued that Mr Burnham is looking for "cross-party consensus" on the plans, which he argues is a "good thing".

He concluded: "We all want to see elderly people looked after, you do, I do. What he's doing is saying, I want to reach out to all the parties to see how we can do this.

"If I can't get agreement, I'm going to go there, but he is looking for consensus, and I think that's a good thing."