Andy Burnham has suggested he could make it harder for people to claim benefits.

The Prime Minister warned the country needs to “get serious” about lowering the welfare bill, which is forecast to reach approximately £323 billion for the 2025–26 financial year.

Speaking in his first major interview since taking the keys to No10, he said he might “increase the conditions on people required to receive benefits”.

He told the BBC that he believed “there are people out there who with the right support can go into work”.

Mr Burnham added: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them. So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits. ”

He insisted he wouldn’t go “straight to blaming” people on benefits, adding: “There are people in the benefits system, young people in their twenties who he been quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there.”

A major Labour backbench rebellion erupted over government welfare cuts to disability and sickness benefits under Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Burnham also said he would not want to leave office without bringing in “substantial change” to the social care system.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Burnham said: “if we don’t do it the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve really not needed to end up in the NHS system.”

But pressed on whether he would create a new system before the next election he said he “couldn’t put a timeline on it right here, right now”, though he would put “whatever political capital I have” into fixing it.

The former Mayor of Greater Manchester first proposed a universal system of social care in England in 2009 when he was health secretary under Gordon Brown.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Burnham was also quizzed on whether is dog Axel would be moving in to Number 10 Downing Street.

But Mr Burnham said his pup, who is part bichon frise and part poodle would “stay up north” because he wouldn’t get on with Larry the Cat.

Referring to Axel, Mr Burnham said he has “got that angry little man thing going on”.

He added: “I don’t think the nation would thank me if I brought Axel down to disturb Larry’s world. These are the big decisions. “The big decisions they’ve been made.”