In a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Rotheram who is the current MP for Walton, set out a series of issues the Government must address to fix the crisis in the social care system. Tony McDonough reports.

Labour candidate for Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram is pledging to organise a major summit on the growing health and social care crisis.

In a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Rotheram who is the current MP for Walton, set out a series of issues the Government must address to fix the crisis in the social care system.

He slammed the Government for its “nonsensical approach” of starving local authorities across the city region in the greatest need of financial resource, while at the same funnelling money to areas in the South of England.

Mr Rotheram is also said the Government’s attitude to social care is designed solely to benefit economically vibrant areas in the South East and their approach will widen the North-South divide.

He said: “If I am elected in May, I would be happy to work with the Minister, and the leaders of the six districts in the Liverpool city region, to convene a health and social care Summit to examine the current situation and look at how we might work together across the piece at what we could do better.

“I will use the soft powers of office to bring together commissioners and providers from across the city region’s health and social care systems – to assess the nature and scale of the crisis we face.

“I don’t pretend for a second that there are easy answers, certainly not when you consider the scale of cuts that the Government have been inflicting on our local authorities since 2010.

“But we do have a responsibility to ensure that the resources we do have are used optimally and we have a duty to ensure health and social care work in a seamless and joined up a way as possible within the current structures of responsibility and funding restrictions.”