Andy Burnham has pledged to spend "whatever political capital I have" on repairing England's social care system, warning that the NHS risks effective collapse without urgent reform. Speaking in his first full interview since becoming prime minister last week, he said he could not set a firm timetable for a wholly new system but promised to move as fast as possible, framing the issue as one repeatedly ducked by previous governments and one he has a personal stake in through his father's Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Burnham told the BBC that failing to fix social care costs the NHS billions of pounds and prevents it returning to acceptable waiting time standards, insisting his long-stated commitment to reform would not waver now he holds office. He also said the country needed to "get really serious" about reducing spending on benefits, while stressing he did not want to blame claimants, particularly young people he felt had been let down by inadequate support. He confirmed plans to overhaul the wider benefits system, building on work started under Keir Starmer, including a review of disability payments and efforts to tackle youth unemployment, with some support potentially made conditional on people taking up opportunities offered to them.