3 min read9 min

In a letter seen by PoliticsHome, 53 parliamentarians have asked Burnham to establish a national commission to examine options for replacing it with a more representative chamber.

“Whilst we welcome the initial steps taken by the government to reform the upper chamber, we remain deeply concerned about the impact its current structure has on people’s lives,” the letter says, adding: “This institution underpins the everyday realities of communities across the UK, and with trust in politics at an all-time low – it is crucial that we have a second chamber that is representative and accountable.”

Parliament has already approved legislation brought forward by the Keir Starmer Labour government to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the upper chamber.

Responding to the letter on Friday, the government pointed to the removal of the hereditaries as an example of fundamental Lords reform, and stressed that the new Prime Minister has a long-term commitment to replace the unelected chamber with something more representative of the regions and nations.

However, the cross-party group expresses concern that government is not moving quickly enough, pointing to Labour’s 2024 manifesto commitment to replace the House of Lords with “an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations”.

The letter was organised by the co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for House of Lords Reform, Labour MP Dr Simon Opher and former Tory cabinet minister Kit Malthouse, and is signed by MPs such as Labour’s Diane Abbott, Kim Leadbeater and Rosena Allin-Khan; Green MP Ellie Chowns; Plaid’s leader in Westminster Liz Saville-Roberts; and Lib Dem MPs Christine Jardine and Wera Hobhouse.

It recommends that the national commission be made up of citizens and constitutional experts who would be asked to discuss how a more representative second chamber would work. This would be a “clear way in which this government could deliver on its pledge,” according to the group.

It reminds Burnham of comments he made during the Makerfield by-election, which paved the way for him to enter No 10: “I don’t think we can justify half of our national legislature being unelected”, and argues that abolishing the unelected House of Lords would complement his commitment to devolving power away from Westminster and strengthening regional representation.

“As you have committed to making regional representation a cornerstone of your Premiership, this is a significant opportunity to embed that principle into the UK’s constitutional architecture,” they write. 

The letter also points to polling from the UCL Constitution Unit and YouGov showing that 79 per cent of the public support limiting prime ministerial powers to appoint peers and 71 per cent support capping the size of the Lords so that it cannot exceed the Commons. 

“We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you and to work together towards a legislature that better serves people across every part of the United Kingdom,” it says.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has given FIFA members until September to accept the plans or lose funding. (Alamy)

4 min read4 hr

The shadow culture secretary and head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Football have both told PoliticsHome that Gianni Infantino should no longer lead FIFA. 

Earlier this week, The Financial Times reported that FIFA President Infantino wants to sell off stakes in its competitions via associates of US President Donald Trump. According to the report, the move would be led by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and could raise $20bn from private investors. 

The story escalated on Wednesday when Infantino wrote to all 211 member associations of FIFA, presenting them with an ultimatum of accepting the proposals and each receiving $40m in additional funding by September, or failing to do so and receiving instead recieving a significantly smaller amount. 

UEFA, which represents football in Europe, has reacted furiously to the proposals, warning that “FIFA cannot continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends”. 

In its latest statement on Wednesday, UEFA said that “having held discussions with many stakeholders across the game, UEFA knows there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA’s scheme. FIFA cannot continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends.

“We can grow the game correctly. It’s time to prioritise associations, clubs, leagues, players and fans.”

UEFA member nations are set to meet this week to discuss how to respond to the move, including the possibility of a European boycott of the World Cup.

On Tuesday night, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, an avid football fan, publicly criticised the Infantino plan, putting the UK government on a collision course with the world’s most powerful footballing body.

In a statement, he said: “Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.

“The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.

“Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will.”

Figures across the political spectrum have joined the chorus of outrage on Wednesday.

Caroline Dinenage, Conservative MP and chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, likened the Infantino plan to the “ill-advised” attempt by elite clubs in 2021 to set up a breakaway European Super League, in which teams would have been guaranteed spots regardless of domestic performance. The plan quickly fell apart following widespread backlash among fans and senior figures in the game.

“These plans worry me, and I think they set the future of international football on a trajectory that fans will find deeply troubling,” said Dinenage, who added that her committee would “certainly” discuss it when Parliament returns in September.

Richard Parker, Labour mayor of the West Midlands, told PoliticsHome the World Cup “doesn’t belong to private investors” and praised the Prime Minister for his condemnation of FIFA, saying he was “absolutely right to speak out”. 

“Villa Park [home stadium of Aston Villa] hosted the World Cup in 1966, and in two years’ time it’ll be welcoming international football again for the Euros. So people here in the West Midlands have a real stake in this,” said Parker. 

“I’d say to Gianni Infantino: come to Birmingham. Stand on the Holte End on a matchday and see what football actually means to people. It’s families going to the game together. It’s a grandad taking his granddaughter to her first match. It’s local kids dreaming that one day they might pull on the shirt themselves.”

The shadow culture secretary, Tory MP Nigel Huddleston, said he had lost confidence in Infantino to continue leading FIFA, saying that this episode is the latest example “that calls into question call into question his judgement and his ability to do the right job”.

The FIFA President came under intense pressure during the recent tournament after it emerged that Trump had asked him to look again at a red card given to US player Folarin Balogun before FIFA decided to reverse the subsequent ban.

Clive Betts, Labour MP for Sheffield South East and chair of the APPG on Football, endorsed UEFA’s “hard line stance” as the World Cup is reliant on participation by European countries.

“That’s where the resources are, that’s where the money is, and that’s where the heart of the essence of the game is around the world,” said Betts.

He also said he hoped that football bodies in the UK get fully behind UEFA, and like Huddlestone said, he no longer has confidence in Infantino to lead FIFA.

Andy Burnham set out a roadmap to reforming social care (Alamy)

4 min read6 min

Speaking at a care home in London on Wednesday morning, Andy Burnham said he was willing to take a hit to his own popularity to bring forward changes. “I know this will require me to put what political capital I have on the table. And it might wear down that political capital in some ways,” he said.

He added that any reform to social care will “require difficult decisions” and the Labour government would be “honest with people about those”. 

“We will put them before the country at the right time, and we will hopefully proceed with people’s consent,” he said.

He added that social care is intrinsically linked to pressures facing the NHS and cannot be treated like it “lives in its own silo”.

“There is no way we can restore the NHS to the standards we all want to see without fixing this issue. We can’t do it,” the PM said.

Successive governments have attempted to grapple with the issue of rising costs of social care. While health secretary under Gordon Brown in 2010, Burnham himself backed the introduction of a 10 per cent levy on estates to pay for a universal National Care Service.

Planned changes have failed to materialise, however, often due to the issue being seen as too politically difficult. Even supporters of social care reform accept that it will be expensive, with experts estimating it will cost billions of pounds a year.

But Burnham said he could “never forgive himself” if he didn’t try to fix the system while in power, stressing that there had been 22 reviews into social care in the last three decades. “It’s a major dereliction of public duty that Parliament has not faced up to this… It’s shameful, to be honest,” the PM said.

The term social care describes support for adults with care and support needs. In England, it is arranged by local authorities, and some people receive state support to help pay for it.

With the UK facing an ageing population, demand on social care has increased in recent years, putting severe pressure on local authorities which help provide it.

The Telegraph reported overnight that officials were drawing up plans for a new tax on income to fund social care as one of the options to reform the system. Asked if the government can transform social care without raising taxes, Burnham said: “I think more is possible within existing budgets”.

On Wednesday morning, Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading a government commission on reforming the social care system, told The Today programme that pay for carers should rise as part of reforms.

Her words were echoed by the PM later when he said carers “should be the best paid people in society, not the worst” and that he would focus “immediately” on strengthening the social care workforce.

Referencing the previous government’s introduction of a fair pay agreement for social care staff, which is due to come in the financial year 2028-29, Burnham said that move was a “massive building block of a national care service”.

Building on this, the PM said he wanted “to look at how we turn the fair pay agreement into a bigger reform to improve the social care workforce”. He said he also wanted to start to think about progression routes for young people coming into social care.

Casey also announced the launch of the “big conversation on care”. 

Casey was commissioned by the previous government under Keir Starmer to chair an independent commission into adult social care, which was due to report in 2028. Burnham has asked Casey to bring her report forward a year, to 2027.

Later today, Burnham will convene a virtual summit with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats as part of a cross-party attempt to fix the social care system. 

Asked about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is set to be reintroduced by a backbench MP,  the PM said that he believed that the debate should not come before the “fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care.

Speaking before, Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the government would appoint a “dementia tsar” later this year.