Decision time for Boris over social care crisis

THERE is no doubt that tackling the social care crisis is one of the biggest issues facing this Government over the next five years, perhaps even bigger than Brexit itself. Boris Johnson has set himself a tight timetable with 100 days after the election but there is no doubt about the urgency that is required in taking a decision.

We applaud the Prime Minister’s attempts to depoliticise the issue by making it cross party and trying to bring in consensus.

But sadly we all know that this will prove to be fanciful. Labour’s hard-Left politicians who put chaos and misery before the public good will never sign up to such an initiative.

In the end though what seems to be a complicated issue is actually quite simple. It all comes down to who pays for it and how.

We know that many elderly people need support and full-time care in their advancing years, we know this means providing well-trained and motivated staff and giving them safe accommodation to live in, particularly those suffering dementia.

We know that when this is achieved that one of the worst problems blighting our NHS – so-called bed blocking with elderly patients unable to return home – will be ended.

The question is: how do we pay for it? The disastrous Conservative election campaign of 2017 shows that we can have no repeat of the “dementia tax”. It is wrong to force people to sell their homes.

This leaves the options of a new tax, extending current taxes, massive cuts in other areas of government spending or an insurance scheme. Social care is not cheap.

But Mr Johnson now has a big mandate. He has promised to resolve an issue that governments of all colours have ducked for too long. He now needs to grasp the moment and make a decision.