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Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure from within his own party not to impose a national insurance hike that breaks the manifesto to pay for social care.
On Saturday, former Prime Minister Sir John Major joined the Conservatives’ warning of a widely-anticipated move towards workers and employers by claiming it was “regressive.”
Instead, he called on the prime minister to take a “candid and honest” approach to increasing general taxation.
The government is preparing to announce a long-awaited plan on how to reform and raise funds for social care this week. It also includes steps to fund the NHS’s efforts to address the vast untreated portion caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Boris Johnson, Health Minister Sajid Javid, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have shattered the details of the reform.
The Sunday Times reported that it would limit its lifetime contributions to care to around £ 80,000 ($ 110,000), raise national insurance by 1.25% and raise £ 10-11 billion ($ 13.8-15 billion) annually.
But no. 10 claimed on Sunday that details of the social care plan were still under consideration.
At the FT Weekend Festival, Major said: “Government must take action to deal with social care, which would mean increased taxation.
“I don’t think they should use national insurance contributions. I think it’s a regressive way. I would rather do it in a straightforward and honest way and tax it.”
The tax increase violates the 2019 Tory Manifest and includes a personal “guarantee” from Johnson that it will not raise income tax, VAT, or national insurance.
A significant number of Tories have admitted that some kind of tax increase is needed, but they are calling for not taking the form of raising national insurance, like former Health Minister Jeremy Hunt.
Critics argue that while pensioners do not pay extra, it will have a disproportionate impact on young, low-income workers.
Tory lawmaker Marcus Fysh warned against the government’s “socialist approach to social care,” saying it was “alert in the apparent direction.”
“I don’t think it’s conservative to impose high taxes on working-age individuals and their employers when our manifesto promises not to do so,” he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph.
This week, sources close to Health Minister Sajid Javid strongly denied he demanded an increase in national insurance to 2 percent.
But they did not dispute that he claimed a rise of more than a percent, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak allegedly opposed.
Workers have expressed opposition to increasing national insurance, but Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to decide how to fund social care reforms.
The minister is reportedly preparing to announce that the triple lock of the state pension will be temporarily replaced by a “double lock”, and the second pledge is expected to be broken quickly.
This could mean that wage distortions during the coronavirus crisis could mean pensioners could get up to 8 percent increase in payments while workers face tougher times. Because there is.
Sam blue
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