Labour urges Boris Johnson to make good on his promise to ‘fix’ adult social care

As Labour conference opens

Kate Devlin

Whitehall Editor

Saturday 19 September 2020 11:29 BST

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(Parliament Live)

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Labour has urged Boris Johnson to make good on his promise to "fix" the crisis in adult social care in England.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner said the prime minister entered Downing Street last year insisting he had a plan ready, but it was not now expected to be published until 2021.

As the Labour conference opens, Ms Rayner has called for all social care workers to be paid the real living wage.

In a speech on Sunday to Labour Connected, a four-day online event which has replaced the party’s annual trip to the seaside, cancelled because of coronavirus, Ms Rayner, a former care home worker, said: "On his first day in office the Prime Minister promised to fix the crisis in social care with a plan he said he had already prepared. Now it turns out that it won't be published until next year.

"He must publish his plan to fix the crisis in social care without any more delays, and that plan must guarantee all care workers are paid at least the real living wage."

"After all their sacrifice and bravery, the very least that our care workers deserve is a pay rise, " she will add.

She also said Labour was committed to rebuilding voters' trust, after its worst general electfion result in generations last December.

"We know that we have a mountain to climb to win the next election but we are determined to climb it," she said.

"We must - and we will - restore the British people's trust in Labour as a party of government."

Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling said: "Tax cuts and increases to the National Living Wage brought in by the Conservatives have benefited millions of the lowest paid, and ensured that those who provide vital care are rewarded.”