Tories warn councils are furious at £250m care costs for elderly

Shadow Communities Secretary Caroline Spelman said Ministers must be living in "cloud cuckoo land" if they did not believe this was an "unfunded burden".

Last month Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled plans to provide 400,000 vulnerable elderly people with free personal care in their homes, at an annual cost of 670m.

Some 420m of this would be funded by the Department of Health while the rest would be met by local authorities. But council leaders have warned that the Personal Care at Home Bill would increase the strain on an already overburdened social services system.

At Commons Question Time, Mrs Spelman asked: "Can you understand why councils are feeling so furious after being instructed to meet a 250m shortfall in the Premier's latest commitment to personal care?

"Given the Government defines a new burden as any new policy or initiative which increases the cost of providing local authority services, can you explain which part of that 250m is not covered by that doctrine?"

Communities Secretary John Denham said it was a "shame" the Tories had not welcomed the proposals, which involved the "biggest single transfer of resources" from the NHS to local government since the NHS's creation in 1948.

"It is a massive vote of confidence in the ability of local government to deliver this policy."