Robert Jenrick brands Andy Burnham's plans a 'fantasy' as Reform warns hard-working Britons to be hit by more taxes

RSS Aggregator

Jul 30, 2026 - 10:38

Robert Jenrick brands Andy Burnham's plans a 'fantasy' as Reform warns hard-working Britons to be hit by more taxes

Reform's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick has branded Andy Burnham's social care plans as "fantasy" as he warned hard-working Britons are set to be hit by more taxes.

It has been speculated that Mr Burnham will introduce a death tax to fund social care reform, which Mr Jenrick described as a "cruel and punitive" levy.

He said: "Andy Burnham's levy is different. It has no threshold, no allowance, no minimum, limit whatsoever.

"Everything goes in, the family heirloom's, your mother's wedding ring."

The MP for Newark also said Britons are amongst the most heavily taxed people when dead, saying: "Of the 38 OECD nations Britain already runs the fifth harshest death tax regime."

"Mr Burnham's death tax and our existing inheritance tax would cost families almost £30billion a year.

"Britain would become the single worst place to give money to your kids in the Western world, and it would be worse than that because it would also make the UK the only country in the whole of the West to tax all savings with no allowance whatsoever.

"This is a truly extreme proposal," he said.

Mr Burnham suggested a three-point plan to reform social care in the UK yesterday, announcing there will be fairer pay for carers, cross-party collaboration on the issue and moving forward the Baroness Casey to publication to 2027.

A death tax has been floated as an option to fund social reform, which is estimated to cost £18billion.

Wes Streeting cannot guarantee terrorists are not coming into UK via small boats

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has failed to guarantee that terrorists are not crossing the Channel via small boats, following an investigation by the Telegraph that Iran is using the route to place malevolent actors in the UK..

Pressed directly on whether he could rule this out, Mr Streeting pointed instead to Britain's border measures and domestic security services.

He said the UK's intelligence agencies were "the best in the business", working around the clock to keep the country safe, though their successes often go unreported.

When it was put to him that this amounted to a "no", Mr Streeting did not directly answer.

Instead, he said the public could have "total confidence" that security services were "tasked in the right way" to counter threats from Iran and other hostile states, as well as domestic terrorism.

Wes Streeting: Nuclear submarine investment 'fully funded'

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has said the £8.4billion investment into nuclear submarines is "fully funded", saying the money was won by his predecessor Dan Jarvis.

When further pressed about where this money was coming from, he told GB News: "Both at the spending review and with the additional investment that was secured by my predecessor Dan Jarvis, we are spending more on defense.

That will continue to be the case, but what we do at spending reviews is set out for the next few years how much we're investing and how we're raising the money.

"Now it's our job to get that money out of the door, and that's exactly what we're doing."

Migrant crossings are up due to Labour's scrapping of Rwanda plan, says Tom Tugendhat

Migrant small boat crossings have increased because of the Labour Government scrapping the Rwanda scheme, said Tom Tugendhat MP.

Speaking to GB News, he said the only time crossing numbers fell was under the Rwanda scheme, noting it had created enough of a deterrent that people were crossing from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland to avoid it.

Mr Tugendhat said numbers have risen again since Labour scrapped the policy, warning it was now "a national security priority".

Asked whether he agreed with US President Donald Trump's description of the situation as an "invasion", Mr Tugendhat said he was focused more on the solution than labelling the issue.

He argued Kemi Badenoch was "the only leader setting out a proper plan" by committing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

Andy Burnham is 'all vibes', says Tom Tugendhat

Andy Burnham has been described as "all vibes and feeling" by Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat.

Speaking to GB News, the MP for Tonbridge pointed out Mr Burnham will not face questions from Parliament for several months and his nuclear submarine announcement is a repetition of "the promises the last Prime Minister made", concluding his premiership is currently "all vibes and feelings".

Mr Tugendhat continued: "I'm afraid Government isn't about feelings. It's about pounds and pence. It's about where's the money coming from."

Andy Burnham due to unveil £8.4billion investment for nuclear submarines

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will unveil £8.4 billion for the next phase of the HMS Dreadnought nuclear submarine programme during a visit to Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria today.

The submarines, powered by Rolls-Royce nuclear propulsion and armed with Trident 2 D5 missiles, are set to replace the ageing Vanguard Class from the early 2030s.

However, the funding was originally agreed under Sir Keir Starmer's Government as part of a £15billion boost to the defence and nuclear budget.