Andy Burnham today attempted to push back a debate on assisted dying as he said there was a more immediate need to fix palliative care and social care.The Prime Minister was quizzed about his views ahead of the return to Parliament of controversial legislation after MPs' six-week summer break.When the House of Commons sits again in September, a Labour MP will seek to reintroduce the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.This is despite its failure in the last parliamentary session when, despite passing two votes in the Commons, it fell in the House of Lords.Peers ran out of time to conclude their debate on the Bill, amid accusations of 'filibustering' by opponents of the legislation, before the parliamentary session ended in April.The Bill aimed to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.Lauren Edwards, the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood, is now set to reintroduce the Bill as supporters of assisted dying mount another attempt to pass it into law.But Mr Burnham signalled he is opposed to the efforts to revive the Bill, which marks a break from his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer who was in favour of the legislation. Andy Burnham today attempted to push back a debate on assisted dying as he said there was a more immediate need to fix palliative care and social careThe PM told reporters: 'I take the view that that debate – and I don't say that there shouldn't be a debate at some point about those issues – personally, I think there's something that needs to happen first.'That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care. I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in a context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about that care.'That's the way I kind of see this, and that's the position that I will stick to.'Mr Burnham's comments came as he announced plans to reform the social care system, with the view to creating a 'national care service'.In 2024, just before the first Commons vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Mr Burnham told BBC Manchester he would 'probably vote in favour of it'.When he was previously an MP he abstained from a 2015 vote on another Bill to legalise assisted dying because of concerns over safeguards and people feeling under pressure.But he said he had 'family experience in the nine years since that has changed my view'.He said: 'I think we do allow people to suffer and families to suffer too much.'Mr Burnham caveated his support as being for the principle of assisted dying and insisted he would want a requirement before any new law was implemented that hospices would be 'properly funded and sorted out'.He has also however, spoken of his Catholic background and how 'Catholic social teaching underpins my politics', even though he is 'not particularly religious'.The Catholic Church is staunchly opposed to assisted dying legislation.Mr Burnham's views chime with several prominent parliamentarians, including Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who have called for a greater focus on improving palliative care before assisted dying is legalised.Responding to the PM's comments on Wednesday, Labour MP Jess Asato - a leading opponent of the Bill - said: 'Most MPs concerned about the assisted dying Bill have always been clear that their concerns aren't about the principle, but the practical implications.'We have a responsibility to consider the safety of introducing such a flawed Bill into a broken and failing care system.'There can be no meaningful choice and no dignity at the end of life if we don't have a palliative care system that provides basic support for the vulnerable and an affordable social care system that gives everyone dignity at the end of their lives.'It's really welcome that the PM recognises this and has committed the Government to fixing our broken social care system.'Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, CEO of the charity Right To Life UK, which campaigns against assisted suicide and in support of better access to palliative care, said: 'The PM is right.'Given the state of palliative and social care in this country, introducing assisted suicide would be a disaster'.'His Labour MPs must now unite in opposition to the deeply divisive assisted suicide Bill and reject it at Second Reading.'But Ms Edwards vowed to press on with her bid to return the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament.She said: 'Improving social and palliative care and offering choice in the last weeks of a dying person's life can and must go hand in hand.'The Bill that has been before Parliament and thoroughly debated since October 2024 provides for a four-year implementation period.'That means if my current Bill becomes law next year, we would have until 2031 to fix the status quo that Andy Burnham rightly says is broken and has let people down for too long. As he said today, the risks of failing to act are too great.'