Aine Fox

Andy Burnham set ending rough sleeping as his first directive upon becoming UK prime minister, visiting The Passage charity ahead of announcing the priority in Downing Street. He highlighted the need for coordinated national action, citing lessons from the pandemic’s Everyone In initiative. Data showed rising rough‑sleeping figures nationally and mixed trends in London, including a notable share of people coming from asylum accommodation. Temporary accommodation usage fell slightly but remained near record levels, with the number of children in such housing continuing to rise.

Andy Burnham said his father, who has Alzheimer's disease, does not know he is becoming prime minister as he restates his commitment to major social care reform. Drawing on his family's experiences, he pledged to prioritize fixing what he calls England's broken social care system and warned that previous governments failed to act decisively. He plans to use political capital to advance long-delayed changes and argues that improving social care is essential to easing pressure on the NHS and addressing long‑standing public concerns.