Tories and Reform UK tell Burnham they will fight any plan to reform adult social care involving tax rises – UK politics

Andy Burnham has said there are “big decisions” ahead of his government on council tax, as he criticised the unfairness of the current system for making some people pay higher rates than are levied on more expensive homes in London.

In his interview with Laura Kuenssberg for the BBC’s Panorama programme, Burnham said:

double quotation mark There are people here in Greater Manchester who pay a much higher council tax than people living in much larger homes in London.

So the chancellor before, Rachel Reeves, was right to start to reform council tax to create some fairness there in relation to people in homes that are of much greater value, who haven’t seen their council tax go up over the years because of the failure to revalue the banding.

That’s an example of something that I think was right and fair.

double quotation mark We need to honour the manifesto upon which Labour was elected, and if I was to bring forward any changes, obviously people would rightly say, well, is this consistent with that manifesto? So there are big decisions ahead, you are right about that.

Labour’s 2024 manifesto did not include any specific pledges on council tax. But during the election campaign Labour ruled out changing council tax bands. This did not stop Rachel Reeves last year announcing a council tax surcharge on homes worth more than £2m – a policy that could be seen as a breach of those campaign promises.

In a story for the i today, Eleanor Langford says Burnham is considering options to replace council tax and stamp duty. She says:

double quotation mark Two models are competing for support: a proportional property tax, which would replace both council tax and stamp duty with a flat 0.48 per cent annual charge on a home’s current value; or a land value tax – an annual charge based on the value of the land a property sits on, rather than the building.

Government sources have played down this report. We should get a more formal response at the lobby briefing later.