Johnson: Reforms will end ‘cruel lottery’ of social care costs

Published

3 years ago

September 7, 2021

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Boris Johnson will be confident of victory in a snap Commons vote on his NHS bailout and social care shake-up, which MPs are claiming is the biggest political gamble of his premiership.

Defying potential Tory rebels, the prime minister has raised taxes to their highest level since the Second World War and broken Conservative manifesto pledges on taxation and pensions.

And ahead of a debate and vote on what some senior Tories are calling a one-item Budget, the threat of a damaging backbench rebellion was receding and a full-scale mutiny close to collapse.

The crucial vote, just 24 hours after Mr Johnson unveiled his £12 billion tax hike, is on a motion to give the government the authority to create a healthcare levy and change the rate of national insurance.

Writing in the Daily Mail, the prime minister said he wanted to put an end to the “cruel lottery” of who will or will not face financial ruin to meet their care costs.

Mr Johnson conceded that a lot of the money raised would not, at least in the short term, be going towards social care reform, but would be used to relieve pressure on the NHS and to clear the “backlog of missed operations and treatments”.

He said he had ruled out borrowing to pay for his proposed reforms and instead had “reluctantly concluded that the only responsible course is to ask everyone to pay more”.

He added: “No one in this Conservative government wants to raise taxes. But after the extraordinary exertions of the NHS – and the sacrifices made by countless people – we cannot shirk the challenge.”

And although the PM has not ruled out further tax rises, most Conservative MPs back the post-COVID emergency cash injection to tackle the massive NHS backlog and accept that reform of social care funding is long overdue.

Many MPs also see the snap vote as a move to bounce potential rebels into backing the controversial proposals and claim the threat of an imminent government reshuffle is being used by No. 10 to exert pressure on MPs and ministers to remain loyal.

The prime minister’s move to combine his tax hike to pay for social care reforms with extra cash to fight the COVID backlog in the NHS is being seen as a political masterstroke that effectively killed off the threat of a major rebellion.

Defending the tax hike, Chancellor Rishi Sunak writes in The Times: “This is one of the most consequential decisions a government has made on a matter of public policy in my lifetime; a decision that governments of all political colours have said they would make, but ultimately ducked.

“But we can’t spend money we don’t have, and this will come at a cost. There will be some who will say that we should borrow, and hope that in the end it will all come good. But no responsible government would ever plan on that basis.

“With national debt set to reach nearly 100 per cent of GDP and our borrowing levels high as a result of the pandemic, we must take the difficult decisions. So we have made the tough but responsible choice to raise taxes.

“And the only way to raise such significant sums is from income tax, VAT or National Insurance contributions (NICs). We believe NICs is the fairest and most progressive approach.”

The Commons vote presents a dilemma for Labour, which also backs more cash for the NHS but is opposed to the 1.25% rise in national insurance. Sir Keir Starmer held an emergency meeting of his shadow cabinet to decide how to respond.

Politics

Digital Chamber raises privacy concerns over IRS crypto tax draft

Published

1 hour ago

June 22, 2024

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Digital Chamber raises privacy concerns over IRS crypto tax draft

The Chamber proposes adding a field to the form for brokers to indicate if a digital asset has a different tax rate, such as NFTs taxed as collectibles, to prevent errors and ensure accurate reporting.

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Nigeria rejects claims of Binance exec’s poor health in custody

Published

3 hours ago

June 22, 2024

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<div>Nigeria rejects claims of Binance exec's poor health in custody</div>

Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation emphasized that Gambaryan enjoys full consular support from his home government.

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Farage says West ‘provoked’ Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with EU and NATO expansions

Published

4 hours ago

June 22, 2024

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Farage says West 'provoked' Russia's invasion of Ukraine with EU and NATO expansions

Nigel Farage has reiterated that he blames the West and NATO for the Russian invasion of Ukraine – as he confirmed that he previously said he “admired” Vladimir Putin as a statesman.

Speaking to the BBC, the Reform UK leader was asked about his previous comments on Russia and Ukraine.

Asked about Russia’s 2022 invasion, Mr Farage told Nick Robinson that he had been saying since the fall of the Berlin Wall that there would be a war in Ukraine due to the “ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union”.

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He said this was giving Mr Putin a reason to tell the Russian people “they’re coming for us again” and go to war.

The Reform leader confirmed his belief the West “provoked” the conflict – but said it was “of course” the Russian president’s “fault”.

Previous comments Mr Farage made about Mr Putin were also put to him.

He was asked about comments he made in 2014 stating that Mr Putin was the statesman he most admired.

Mr Farage said he disliked the Russian leader – but “I admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control” of running the country.

“This is the nonsense, you know, you can pick any figure, current or historical, and say, you know, did they have good aspects?” he added.

“And if you said, ‘well, they were very talented in one area,’ then suddenly you’re the biggest supporter.”

Conservative candidates – who may be feeling the threat of a Reform surge in the polls – were quick to condemn the Reform leader.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said Mr Farage was “echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine”.

Deputy Conservative chair Jonathan Gullis added that Putin is “certainly not someone who should be admired” – adding that he “unleashed chemical warfare on the streets of our country to commit murder, which endangered further innocent British lives”.

Labour’s shadow defence secretary, John Healey, said: “These are disgraceful comments, which reveal the true face of Nigel Farage: a Putin apologist who should never be trusted with our nation’s security.

“Up until now, there has been a united front amongst Britain’s political leaders in supporting the people of Ukraine against the unprovoked and unjustifiable assault they have suffered at the hands of Vladimir Putin.

“Nigel Farage has put himself outside that united position, and shown that he would rather lick Vladimir Putin’s boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine. That makes him unfit for any political office in our country, let alone leading a serious party in parliament.”

Mr Farage was also asked about Brexit, and how it has impacted the UK.

He was asked about previous comments he made when he said Brexit had “failed”.

The former UKIP leader said this is what “the Conservatives have done with it”.

“If you put me in charge it’d be very, very different,” he claimed, “but of course they didn’t do that, did they?”

On his party’s climate policies, Mr Farage said he wants to “go for nuclear energy” and scrap the existing net zero programme.

He rejected that he was “arguing the science” on climate change, but that “we spend too much time hyperventilating about the problem, rather than thinking practically and logically what we can do”.

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Mr Farage added that King Charles – who was then a prince – made a “very stupid comment” when he said carbon dioxide was a pollutant.

The Reform leader then said that, by deindustrialising, the CO2 production had been sent offshore to places like India and “all we’ve done is to export the emissions”.