REFORM and the Tories have challenged Andy Burnham to rule out tax hikes to fix Britain’s broken social care system.

The Prime Minister has vowed he does not want to leave office without fixing the crisis, but has not explained how he would pay for any reform.

Andy Burnham has promised to use any goodwill he has among Labour MPs to fix Britain’s broken social care system

Nigel Farage has said if the PM wants to raid people’s savings to fund social care he must call a general electionCredit: PA

Labour has floated the idea that families could contribute to care costs after a loved one has died — a proposal the Conservatives dubbed a “death tax”.

The Prime Minister has also previously said he would support for a 10 per cent levy on family assets in order to fund his plans for social care.

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Writing for The Jattvibe, Mr Farage told The Jattvibe Mr Burnham’s potential levy would drag another 650,000 hard-working families a year into paying death taxes when they die.

He said: “If the Prime Minister wants to raid people’s life savings he should do the decent thing and call a general election.”

Mr Burnham has warned that without reform the NHS will “collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve really not needed to end up in the NHS system”.

But the Tories said any new settlement must be paid for through cuts to spending as opposed to borrowing or higher taxes.

Writing to the Prime Minister, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “The money must be found by reducing current spending. You must rule out any tax rises, or increased borrowing that will ultimately fall on the next generation to pay for.”

She added: “The last thing Britain needs is further tax increases to pay for social care.”

Mr Burnham was unable to tell the BBC whether a new social care system would be in place before the next general election.

But he pledged to use whatever goodwill he has with Labour MPs to fix the problem.

Adult social care costs the taxpayer around £35 billion a year with spending set to increase as Britain’s population gets older.

Almost two million older people in England are not receiving the treatment they need in their twilight years, according to Age UK.

Mr Burnham is also preparing to create a new ‘Department for Health and Social Care North’.

It will be based in Leeds and is part of a drive to move power away from Whitehall and into northern towns and cities.