ALEX BRUMMER: New betrayal for social services

When it comes to social protection, successive governments never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Labour's foolish decision to create a social services task force led by Baroness Casey, which will not report until 2028, throws a recurring problem into the long grass.

Fourteen years have passed since the publication of Andrew Dilnot's in-depth report into social care funding. In 2019, Boris Johnson stood on the steps of Downing Street and promised to make social care reform a priority.

His government planned to fund a new service through a 1.25 percent tax on health care and social services, with funds raised earmarked. Instead, revenues fell into the black hole of public finances after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the transition from hospital to social care remains blocked.

An elderly cousin spent an unnecessary five weeks in the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton last summer while waiting for social support.

Lessons Learned: Keir Starmer should learn from Attlee's post-war Labor government, which was quick to legislate for a 'cradle to grave' welfare system

There are countless similar stories. The answer to the funding problem is clearly visible. In the years following the introduction of opt-out private pensions, created by Adair Turner's commission, some 30 billion were accumulated in the National Employment Savings Trust and countless other billions in pension schemes. defined contribution pension. Very few people opt out of a plan in which funds are collected at source from pay stubs.

Imagine how much money would have been raised for social care, both at home and in care facilities, if a similar opt-out scheme had been in place in Dilnot's time with low contributions.

We recognize that there would be objections. Some on the left believe that young people should not be forced to contribute to a fund intended for wealthy retirees. The answer is that young people could withdraw. But in doing so, they would not be entitled to assistance if something bad happened during their professional life or in retirement.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting could learn from other G7 countries. In Germany, long-term care is levied on the income of working and retired people, at a rate of 3.05 percent for those with children and 3.3 percent for those without children. In Japan, where the population is aging rapidly and lives long, everyone over the age of 40 must contribute to the long-term care fund. Only people over 65 can benefit from the system.

The UK government's idea of ​​a new National Care Service is a great PR slogan. Starmer should learn the lessons of Attlee's post-war Labor government, which was quick to legislate for a “cradle to grave” welfare system.

Steel decision

Labour’s economic thinking was, until the election of Donald Trump, closely aligned with that of Joe Biden. Ministers would do well to examine how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CIFUS) and the White House, about to leave Biden, are handling the $11.4 billion offer from Japan's Nippon Steel for US Steel, based in Pittsburgh.

Facing a massive lobbying campaign by Nippon and US Steel to gain approval for the deal, the outgoing president blocked the transaction on national security grounds. Steel is considered a strategic industry. Significantly, the CIFUS study expresses concern that if Japan's global trade interests demand it, promises made to the U.S. government about keeping the stoves burning and jobs safe would be flouted.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, unions and other stakeholders would do well to keep this in mind, given the naive confidence placed in promises by Czech Sphinx Daniel Kretinsky to secure control of Royal Mail. He pledged to maintain jobs, pay rises and universal service at the Royal Mail for five years. Such commitments have rarely proven enforceable. In the event of a global recession or rising interest rates, the economics of Kretinsky's $3.6 billion offer would change.

Postal workers and consumers could pay a heavy price.

Tilting of windmills

Donald Trump's call to “open up” the North Sea and get rid of wind farms will be seen as very unwelcome by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. This shows the scale of the problems facing the UK Ambassador to Washington, Lord Mandelson, in renewing special relations with the United States. Energy security, jobs and tax revenues must not be sacrificed on the altar of climate change.

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