Carole Malone admitted she felt emotional after listening to Robert Jenrick's speech on Thursday (July 30). The Reform UK Treasury spokesperson held a press conference earlier today, where he urged Andy Burnham to rule out future tax rises to fund his plans to fix the social care system.
Jenrick's warning on 'death tax'
It comes after the prime minister gave a speech calling for reforms to the system, warning that the failure to tackle the social care crisis was a 'major dereliction of public duty'. Burnham said he wants to look at other avenues, but has not ruled out tax rises. Jenrick said any reforms should be funded by cutting foreign aid and reducing benefit payments to migrants, while urging the Labour leader to rule out what he described as a universal 'death tax'.
Malone's emotional reaction
Reacting to the politician's press conference, Malone expressed concern about the impact a 'death tax' would have on working-class people, warning that it would 'batter' them if the prime minister were to introduce it. The Daily Express columnist said: 'I thought that was a really powerful speech. It actually made me quite emotional just listening to him because he's right. If Burnham doesn't pose this tax, the rich will avoid it. They will take whatever measures they have to to avoid it.'
'The people that will never be able to avoid it are the working people he talked about. Working people who don't have very much money and don't have very much to leave, and it's going to be raided.'
She continued: 'That struck me there. We always hear that Burnham is supposed to be the man of the people, he cares about the workers. No, he's going to really batter the workers. This won't affect the rich one iota because they'll move their money.'
Jenrick's bleak picture
In his speech, Jenrick painted a bleak picture of the financial consequences families could face following the death of a loved one if a 'death tax' is implemented. He said: 'Imagine the scene, a loved one, maybe your parent or your grandparent, has passed away, you're grieving. At the same time you're trying to sort out all the things that follow from a death. You're going through their belongings, the paperwork, and then there's a knock on the door. It's not from a well-wisher, but it's from HMRC.'
'That is what Andy Burnham's scheme could mean. The taxman intruding on the private grief of hundreds of thousands of regular families every year right across the country. It's the tax that Andy Burnham conspicuously refused to rule out yesterday, a universal death tax.'
