CC Live: Labour ‘will not play politics’ with Dilnot findings

Labour will not “play politics” with the debate on the long-term funding of adult social care, shadow care services minister Emily Thornberry said yesterday.

The Dilnot Commission is due this summer to publish recommendations on funding adult social care services.

Thornberry told Community Care Live’s Question Time: “We are not going to get in the way and we are not going to get a dig in. We will support [Andrew] Dilnot if he comes in with something fair and sensible.”

She accused the Conservatives of using the issue to “gain political capital” during last year’s general election when they ridiculed Labour’s proposal for a levy on property after death to fund a national care service. The Tories described the proposal as a “death tax”.

Thornberry said the party had now abandoned the idea. “The ship has sailed in terms of long-term care being paid for out of taxation,” she said. She added Labour was ready to be open-minded about how the funding of long-term care should work.

“Obviously, it’s up to us to decide if we want be oppositional, to decide that we could undermine Dilnot’s proposals, but that would be irresponsible,” she said.

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