CARE services for elderly and disabled people are not fit for purpose, according to local MPs from across the political divide.

And one, Labour’s Imran Hussain, said the national social care crisis was now so bad it was in a “state of emergency”.

The comments came after a study by charity Independent Age found that only one in ten English MPs believe the current social care system is suitable for the UK’s ageing population.

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But local MPs have offered dramatically different ideas about how to plough more money into the ailing system.

While Conservative MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, has said the overseas aid budget should be slashed to pay for better care, Labour MP for Keighley, John Grogan, has called for inheritance taxes to fund a NHS-style system of free social care for all.

Mr Davies said the social care system was not working and needed more funding “without a shadow of a doubt”, which is why he had argued for the Government to cut the overseas aid budget to free up an extra £2bn.

He said: “We need more money for social care and given the financial situation the country is in, in my view we should get the money off the overseas aid budget . As far as I’m concerned, we should be protecting vulnerable disabled and elderly people at home first.”

Mr Grogan said he had highlighted his concerns about the social care system in his first speech in Parliament and said the solution was “for all of us to collectively pay for it”.

He said a 10 to 15 per cent inheritance tax, paid by people owning homes over a certain value, could fund a social care system which was free for everyone at the point of use.

He said: “I would go for a fairly radical solution. We fund healthcare collectively, we have got to find a way of funding social care collectively.”

Mr Grogan also raised his concerns about the high number of local care homes failing to meet inspectors' standards and called for carers to receive a better wage and career development prospects.

Mr Hussain, MP for Bradford East, called on the Government to heed his party’s calls for an extra £8bn in funding.

He said: “I agree that the social care system as it currently stands is not fit for purpose, but I find this state of emergency that social care is in to be no surprise when the Government has cut over £4bn from the social care budget between 2010 and 2015, and when they have failed to put forward a real plan for future funding that will adequately deal with needs.”

Labour’s Bradford South MP, Judith Cummins, said: “Adult social care faces unprecedented pressures and I am very concerned it is not fit for purpose. The system is in crisis and tackling this is one of the greatest tests the Government faces.”

She said its recent attempts to do so had been “blundering”, adding: “As always, the focus of these debates seems to overlook the real victims of this crisis - the hundreds of thousands of older and vulnerable people who are reliant on these services, day in, day out.”

Earlier this week, analysis by the Telegraph & Argus found an increasing number of local care homes are failing to meet national Care Quality Commission standards.

While most of the district's homes currently hold good ratings, the analysis showed that of the 50 care homes inspected so far this year, 62 per cent had been rated as either inadequate or requiring improvement.