Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled big tax rises to pay for free social care for older people. He said he will put his social care plans forward to the country at the next general election.
Manifesto commitments 'make it hard'
Speaking to the BBC, he said his party's current manifesto commitments "make it hard" to deliver the social care reforms in this Parliament. He acknowledged it will cost billions and says it will be funded by a system where "everyone contributes".
But Mr Burnham rejected suggestions a free care service could cost taxpayers £18 billion a year. "It's not that high," he told the BBC.
Current system 'unfair'
He said people were already paying a high cost for the current system: "People are paying care charges now. They are spending tens of thousands of pounds from their savings, sometimes losing their homes.
"That is what's happening at the moment. So to suggest there isn't a cost to people at this moment in time, there's a huge cost.
"Social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare, where the most vulnerable in society can lose everything, they can be wiped out, not just by the condition that they have, but wiped out financially."
'Grasp the nettle' on reform
He said he would "grasp the nettle" of social care reform in England, saying it is "devastating" that generations of politicians had failed to address the crisis in the system. Mr Burnham, whose father died earlier this month, said: "For me, obviously, coming in to this journey as Prime Minister as my dad was ending his, has been hard.
"But it pushes me on, and I'm going to grasp the nettle on social care."
Heathrow runway stance
In the interview, Mr Burnham did not say whether he would back a third runway at Heathrow. Asked if he would back the move, he said: "Principally, it's a matter for London and Londoners."
Pressed further, he continued: "It's not right for me to just jump straight in on the back of the consultation." He added: "I think it's right that we hear what people have said through the consultation, and then then consider the way forward from there."
