Steffy Mina Alison

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

I wanted to explain to you directly my announcement on creating a National Care Service and the triple lock.

Fundamental change is needed to protect the NHS and give older people the support they need.

At Labour conference, I announced a plan to create a National Care Service in the next parliament. To fund it, I am proposing an adjustment to the triple lock on the state pension. This will form the basis of a new settlement for older people in our country. I want to explain why this is necessary and what it would mean for pensioners.

Everyone knows that our social care system is broken. And yet, for decades, politicians have failed to fix it. Shamefully, millions of older people have unmet care needs. Far too many see everything they have worked for – their home, pension and savings – wiped out by care bills. The personal cost can be devastating, but we should not make the mistake of thinking the price is paid only by older people and their families.

I am convinced that if we carry on as we are, our broken social care system will eventually break our NHS too. Every day, older people who should be receiving support at home or in care settings are unnecessarily admitted to A&E. Meanwhile, hospital beds are occupied by people who are fit to leave but have nowhere to go because the care they need is not in place. Go to any hospital and you will see the effect. Corridor care is no longer simply the result of winter pressures. It is a commonplace indignity suffered by thousands of patients every day.

It is time for fundamental change. The best chance we have of saving our NHS is to build a high-quality care service. The National Care Service I am proposing will be based on NHS principles: everyone contributes and everyone is covered. It will give people peace of mind about their care needs and protect what they have built up over their lifetime. It will provide free personal care – support with the most basic human needs: eating, dressing and bathing. And it will be integrated with the rest of the system, preventative in nature, and deliver care at home wherever possible, exactly where older people want and should be.

A National Care Service, I believe, would become as significant as the creation of the NHS itself. But we need to be honest about the changes that are needed to pay for it. And I do not believe it makes sense to preserve the current triple lock while so many pensioners face the risk of catastrophic care costs. We can give pensioners greater financial security.

I am proposing to adjust the triple lock. This is not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one. We pledged in our manifesto that we would keep the triple lock throughout this parliament, and I will keep that promise. This means the state pension is set to rise by more than £2,000 a year, reaching around 30 per cent of average earnings by the end of the decade – its highest ever level.

From April 2030, under our adjusted triple lock, we will guarantee that the state pension rises every year by either inflation or 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher. It will also increase by more than this when necessary to ensure that it holds its value relative to average earnings.

This means that if inflation spikes, pensioners will be protected. If wages rise, pensioners will share in that rising prosperity, with the state pension tracking earnings over time. Nobody’s pension will ever go down. And the state pension will be put on a sustainable footing for decades to come.

I want to be upfront about what I am proposing because this adjustment will bring change. The state pension will not increase as quickly as it otherwise would if we kept the triple lock in its current form. However, the adjustment will enable us to fix social care for everyone by building a National Care Service that provides older people with free personal care at the point of need. I believe this is a better deal for pensioners.

I do not expect people to support this plan without seeing the full detail. We will start laying the ground now for the National Care Service and introduce it as soon as possible in the next parliament. Louise Casey’s review will advise us on exactly how and we will build the maximum consensus around her recommendations. It will be fully funded – and not through borrowing.

I appeal to everyone to engage in this debate responsibly and urge politicians to continue the cross-party talks that began over the summer. We need less point scoring and more problem solving. The situation is too serious for us to play politics. Care workers struggling on low pay, families stretched to breaking point, older people fearful of losing everything they have worked for. We need to give them reason to hope again.

I have wanted to fix social care for a long time. As health secretary in 2009, I tried to find a cross-party solution. Since then, I have watched the challenges grow more acute and the consequences become more severe. It is a profound failure of politics that we have known about this problem for so long and yet failed to act. I would never forgive myself if I did not try now.

This is the settlement I am offering to pensioners: a state pension that rises every year, no care charges and a high-quality National Care Service to give peace of mind in later life. I do not pretend this will be easy. But in the end, politics is about finding a way. I gave my word that I would do everything in my power to build a care system worthy of the people who provide it and all those who depend on it. This is how we can achieve it.

[Count Binface @CountBinface]

Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens: I demand you stand down in Clacton. I will be a unity candidate and pledge to build at least one affordable house.

Nigel Farage says he wants The People versus the Establishment. So be it.

Leave him to me.

[Count Binface @CountBinface]

That’s one poster sorted.

[Suzy Quiquero @suzyquiquero]

Keir Starmer using The Pixies' music on one of his TikToks is quite possibly, the coolest thing he's ever done.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@annemflfc @BBCNewsnight @Ceejay62Cj @vicderbyshire I’ve reposted this from a reply I wrote above. Because I feel it rings true for your post too… it’s truly shit I agree with you. Politics should not be like this.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@annemflfc @BBCNewsnight @Ceejay62Cj @vicderbyshire I know, I lament for this country, the sensationalism and populism. Nigel is an investment banker, the high interest rates driven by his economic turmoil will be excellent for him and his pals. He will destroy human rights and the NHS leave this country irreparable.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@annemflfc @BBCNewsnight @Ceejay62Cj @vicderbyshire Which is why we need to get behind Andy Burnham. Optics might not matter to us who are employed, who have a mortgage… but they do to pensioners and low income people who are beyond these matters so we need a safe pair of hands who can win elections and appeal to those people.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@OrlaSingh7538 @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire @KemiBadenoch needs to go, we need a real opposition

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@MckeownEithne @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire Look at Mamdani in NY, he has a whole comms set up, but he’s also delivering… it’s possible to do both

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@crappyhiker2016 @jennyrenb @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire I totally agree with you, we need this right now. Andy Burnham will also be a safe pair of hands

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@LindaR39 @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire I know, I lament for this country, the sensationalism and populism. Nigel is an investment banker, the high interest rates driven by his economic turmoil will be excellent for him and his pals. He will destroy human rights and the NHS leave this country irreparable.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@kazimierz66 @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire @AndyBurnhamGM @Keir_Starmer, please consider appointing Keir as foreign secretary. He is phenomenal at this, in fact it’s the only place he has thrived and gained support and it will direct Sir Keir’s strengths in the best way. It’s for the good of this country.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@kazimierz66 @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire @AndyBurnhamGM @Keir_Starmer, please consider appointing Keir as foreign secretary. He is phenomenal at this, in fact it’s the only place he has thrived and gained support and it will direct Sir Keir’s strengths in the best way. It’s for the good of this country.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@LindaR39 @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire Which is why we need to get behind Andy Burnham. Optics might not matter to us who are employed, who have a mortgage… but they do to pensioners and low income people who are beyond these matters so we need a safe pair of hands who can win elections and appeal to those people.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@LindaR39 @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire I know, I lament for this country, the sensationalism and populism. Nigel is an investment banker, the high interest rates driven by his economic turmoil will be excellent for him and his pals. He will destroy human rights and the NHS leave this country irreparable.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@LiviaAugusta10 @BBCNewsnight @Ceejay62Cj @vicderbyshire Unfortunately, SKS and the party have had to do this for the sake of the country. If reform come in we will see dismantling of the nhs, a truss style hike in interest rates. Great for investment bankers like Nigel Farage but not for regular people who have a mortagage…

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@Nathan262Horn @jennyrenb @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire But that’s the point you are not going to ever go to the bar or be at a party with a prime minister, why does it matter then if you look at them and think that’s what you’d like to do. I’d rather they run the country and create stability for once! I am sick of the circus.

[Steffy Mina Alison @steffycouso]

@AndreaAndreamax @AngelaRayner Shame, He’s done a great job. No one ousted major, brown for lacking charisma. Politics isn’t about that, it’s meant to be boring. Unfortunately, we’ve got to stick by Labour if we don’t we will let trump 2.0 through. The lesser evil is our only hope from outright self sabotage

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

Today, Sir Keir Starmer steps down as Prime Minister, a decent man who gave everything to lead a country growing ever harder to govern.

In turbulent times, his quiet integrity and determination stood out.

Britain loses a leader of principle.

Gratitude for the effort. History will be kinder. 🇬🇧