Brave New World or Groundhog Day? Burnham revisits old ground in speech on social care

Andy Burnham meets residents and staff at a Jewish care home in north London after his speech on reforming England’s social care system. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

For campaigners perpetually disappointed by the failure of England’s political classes to fix England’s creaking adult social care system, the fear was that Andy Burnham’s long-trailed speech on Wednesday would be less Brave New World, more Groundhog Day.

Burnham acknowledged he had been here before. Back in 2010, as health and social care secretary, he unveiled extensive proposals to overhaul social care, only for them to collapse amid rightwing media hostility and furious political rows about “death taxes”.