MORE URGENCY NEEDED ON SOCIAL CARE

The many local organisations and constituents who’ve come to talk to me about social care worries will be disappointed to hear that David Cameron is kicking this important issue into the long grass.

Our adult social care system urgently needs reform, including how we fund care in the future.  David Cameron had previously committed to introducing legislation “to establish a sustainable legal and financial framework for adult social care”.  But David Cameron has only committed to publish draft legislation, with no commitment to introduce a Bill on legal and financial reform in this session.

Organisations like Saga and Age UK are right to be disappointed by what’s been announced because they know how urgent the care crisis is.

Over £1 billion has been cut from local council budges for adult social care since the government came to power and the system has now reached breaking point.

Labour believes this issue is too urgent to kick into the long grass. We initiated cross-party talks on social care funding and we are pushing for urgent progress in them. If the Government is serious about solving the crisis in care and giving older and disabled people the care and they deserve, they must act now.

What’s on the table is simply not good enough.  These Tories and their Lib Dem poodles are an utter disgrace.  They torpedoed Labour's attempts to resolve this issue before the last election, pulling out of cross party discussions and misrepresenting what was being proposed.

The country is paying a heavy price for electing these ideologues.  The Tories have never served the country well and always make life harder for the nation's most vulnerable people.  Labour may not always get everything right, but our instincts are to stand up for the majority, whereas as the Tories' instincts are to look after the privileged minority.  David Cameron has had the good fortune to be given support from Nick Clegg's Lib Dems to inflict this ongoing austerity misery.

For the sake of Britain's future prosperity and our cherished public services, particularly social care for elderly people, the General Election cannot come soon enough.  Meanwhile, it will be up to Labour local authorities like Derby to protect communities from the ravages of this cruel coalition.