Boris Johnson is to blame for 15,000 care home deaths, says Labour’s deputy leader
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Angela Rayner last night accused Boris Johnson of ‘abandoning’ care homes to their fate as she blamed his ‘failure and incompetence’ for the thousands who had died.
In a stinging attack on the PM, Labour’s deputy leader – who was a care worker herself before she entered politics – lambasted him for reneging on his promise to sort out the social care crisis.
Speaking on the weekend before Labour’s virtual conference, she accused the PM of demeaning his office by seeking to blame care home staff for the spread of coronavirus.
Angela Rayner, pictured, last night accused Boris Johnson of ‘abandoning’ care homes to their fate as she blamed his ‘failure and incompetence’ for the thousands who had died
The Prime Minister, pictured, was lambasted for reneging on his promise to sort out the social care crisis
And she said it was a ‘moral outrage’ that a half of home helps and carers earned less than a living wage and often could not even access sick pay.
‘It is a disgrace that Boris Johnson demeaned the office of Prime Minister by attempting to blame care workers for the spread of coronavirus in our care homes,’ she said.
‘It is his failure and incompetence that has resulted in 15,000 deaths in our care homes due to coronavirus. He should concentrate on fixing the crisis in social care that has become even more urgent because of this pandemic.’
Last July, Mr Johnson promised on the steps of Number 10 that he had a plan to fix the social care crisis ‘once and for all’.
This plan has never appeared and the Mail revealed last week that it had been delayed yet again. It is now not expected until 2021.
Mrs Rayner, who worked as a home help herself and represented care workers as a union official before becoming an MP, said it was ‘unconscionable’ that the average wage for a care worker is just £8.10 an hour, while half don’t even earn the real living wage.
She attacked the government for ’empty gestures’ such as clapping for carers that ‘don’t pay the rent or put the food on the table’, as she demanded the real living wage of £9.30 an hour, rising to £10.75 in London.
‘On his first day in office the Prime Minister promised to fix the crisis in social care with a plan he said he had already prepared, she said. ‘Now it turns out that it won’t be published until next year.
‘He must publish his plan to fix the crisis in social care without any more delays, and that plan must guarantee all care workers are paid at least the real living wage.’
Under England’s broken care system, people have to pay the full cost of their care down to their last £23,250 – denying their children much of their inheritance and in many cases preventing them from passing on the family home
Attacking the Prime Minister for only offering care workers ‘warm words, the deputy leader said: ‘It was a moral outrage before this pandemic that the average wage for a care worker is a little over £8 an hour and half don’t even earn the real living wage, but now it is unconscionable.
‘The Prime Minister and government Ministers have fallen over themselves to clap for our carers and offer them warm words, but applause and empty gestures don’t pay the rent or put the food on the table.
‘We can’t clap our key workers and then abandon them. We can’t go back to business as usual, where the very same people who have helped to get our country through this crisis are still underpaid and undervalued.
‘After all their sacrifice and bravery, the very least that our care workers deserve is a pay rise.’
Mrs Rayner said it was dreadful that many carers do not have the right to statutory sick pay of £94.25 a week.
‘They are left in an appalling position, forced to choose between going to work and putting vulnerable people at risk or doing the right thing, isolating at home and not being able to pay the bills,’ she said.
The Mail has highlighted the Prime Minister’s repeated failure to launch his promised plan for social care.
Under England’s broken care system, people have to pay the full cost of their care down to their last £23,250 – denying their children much of their inheritance and in many cases preventing them from passing on the family home.
On the steps of Number 10 last July, Mr Johnson said: ‘I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.’
But earlier this week health minister Lord Bethell said: ‘I cannot commit to a social care plan before the end of the year… I suspect it will take longer than the next few months.’
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