‘We have time to make our case’: Labour insiders are confident Burnham can sell his social care reforms

It is not clear how the prime minister intends to fund a service that could cost up to £18bn a year, according to some estimates. Photograph: Maskot/Getty Images

It is a brave party leader who is prepared to go into an election promising a multibillion-pound new public service – likely to be funded by tax rises or holding back increases in the state pension.

But Andy Burnham’s colleagues are excited about the confident promise of new social care system that seven previous prime ministers have failed to deliver.