Andy Burnham is planning to finally implement the much-needed National Care Service (NCS). While it’s undeniable that we need this service, the question is what the NCS will be: a privatised mess like the NHS of today or a nationalised treasure like the NHS of the past?
With the finer details yet to be decided, now is the time for people to make their opinions known.
Andy Burnham has promised to bring in a new system of social care. But the government needs to address the desperately important issue of who owns and runs it.
Privatisation has been a failed — we’re paying more for worse care while private equity sharks walk away with huge… pic.twitter.com/FRY6naDOM9
— We Own It (@We_OwnIt) July 28, 2026
Burnham is keeping his promise so far
The Morning Star is among those calling for a fully nationalised care service, noting:
ANDY BURNHAM was urged today to prove to keep his vow to abandon 40 years of neoliberalism by legislating for a national care service before the end of this parliament.
Those calling for a fully public NCS also include Labour MP Clive Lewis, who said:
The extractive state vs the productive state:
The real litmus test for any essential public service is simple: who owns it?
Social care reform that ducks this question will repeat the mistakes of privatised water, haemorrhaging billions into management consultants, shareholder returns and financial extraction instead of frontline care.
The same story is playing out in children’s services. In just two years, care costs have risen by 37% to £3.7 billion. Private equity now dominates much of the sector. Firms buy up children’s homes, strip out costs, drive up prices and extract ever greater profits, while too many children’s needs go unmet.
That is the difference between an extractive state and a productive one. One channels public money into financial returns for the 1%. The other invests it in the 99% the service exists to support.
The New Economic Foundation has commented on the issues with private companies:
Rather than being used to improve services, this money is extracted.
We found that private care companies in three English regions had taken more than £250m in profits in just three years. Company directors earn 60 times more than the average wage. 2/3https://t.co/xqBLUvJ8GW
— NEF (@NEF) July 29, 2026
The Green Party is pushing for the full nationalisation of vital utilities and services, but Burnham has frozen them out of the cross-party discussions on care.
"Given our consistent engagement on the adult social care crisis and willingness to work together to solve it, it’s deeply disappointing that the Greens weren’t invited to today’s cross-party talks.
We need all hands on deck to tackle this issue – the Greens remain ready to work… pic.twitter.com/5yICMR6whz
— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) July 29, 2026
The privatisation nightmare
Covering the problems that have arisen from NHS privatisation, We Own It has noted the following:
“The GP records of more than half the country sit on a system controlled by a firm whose business model is returns for investors, not care for patients, and the public found out after the fact.”
And you thought Palantir’s involvement in our healthcare was pretty dodgy…… pic.twitter.com/Rcg7O46nYx
— We Own It (@We_OwnIt) July 27, 2026
The new US-UK pharma deal could lead to 229,000 preventable deaths.
How? It will divert £45 billion from patient care to pharma corporation profits.
Can you help keep the pressure on Andy Burnham to rip it up?
Sign the petition: https://t.co/hIihU2FFwH pic.twitter.com/hHrn3rgUV7
— We Own It (@We_OwnIt) July 16, 2026
We Own It has also spoken out about Burnham’s stance on nationalisation:
The man set to be our next Prime Minister has gone on record as saying he wants to bring key utilities like energy and water into ‘public control’. But Andy Burnham hasn’t yet clarified what he’s proposing.
It’s certainly true that he hasn’t clarified what he has planned, but it seems almost certain it won’t be full re-nationalisation. Here’s what he said in June (emphasis added):
On utilities, we will ensure all parts of the UK are able to take greater public control of essential services like water, housing, energy and transport, learning from the model that has transformed our bus networks here in Greater Manchester.
The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that ‘greater’ public control is not the same as ‘full’ public control; it’s privatisation with more oversight. As privatisation and regulatory oversight have repeatedly failed, we’re not optimistic that more of the thing which doesn’t work will solve anything.
We Own It continued:
Here’s the truth about public control that not enough people know about:
Public control is not public ownership. When it comes to water and energy, the ’public control’ that Burnham is promising already exists. It’s another word for regulation which has been failing households since water was privatised in 1989.
Privatisation is a waste of your money. Burnham can afford to deliver public ownership. How? He can force the companies – water, energy, Royal Mail – to deliver massive investment out of their own pockets or go bust. When they fail there is legislation he can use – the special administration regime – to protect the public interest and take them back without compensating shareholders. The truth is that bringing public services and assets into public ownership will save money and deliver a better deal.
Nationalisation is also massively popular with the public, as a YouGov poll showed.
‘Real control’
We Own It concluded:
Why should your household be a revenue stream for shareholders around the world? Andy Burnham’s popularity won’t last long unless he’s crystal clear that he will end the scam and deliver permanent public ownership for all our key public services and assets, including the NHS and care as well as our key utilities and infrastructure.
We deserve to own our public assets whether at the local, regional or national level, because owning is better than renting; ownership is the only way to get real control of our essential services.
Andy Burnham must pick a side and he can’t bring down your bills and improve your services unless he does.
The National Care Service is badly needed, sure, but so is full ownership of our sovereign assets. If Andy Burnham founds the NCS and it turns out to be yet another extractive nightmare, people won’t remember him as fondly as he hopes they will. And that’s the choice he has: becoming the new Clement Attlee or the new Margaret Thatcher.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
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