Prime Minister Andy Burnham is launching cross-party talks on reforming social care funding, inviting Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey to discuss the issue, while pointedly excluding Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. The move comes as Badenoch has already warned that the estimated £18 billion cost of reform should be met through spending cuts rather than new taxes, setting up a clash over how any settlement should be funded.

Reform UK has hit back with fresh analysis claiming that Burnham's proposed levy, dubbed a "death tax" by critics, could cost his own Greater Manchester constituents up to £50,000 each. The row underlines the political sensitivity of social care funding reform, a long-standing policy challenge that successive governments have struggled to resolve, with the scale of the £18 billion price tag and disagreement over taxation versus cuts likely to dominate Wednesday's talks.