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In a scathing tweet, he said that he was “getting a very strong sense that people are seeing right through yesterday’s con,” which he called a “massive tax rise to cover for economic/ Covid/ Brexit mismanagement”. He continued: “Dressed up as a plan for social care. Which is not a plan. Just a huge tax rise.”
His tweet follows Mr Johnson’s announcement of an overhaul of health and social care funding, in a move that will break key Tory manifesto promises.
MPs are expected to vote later today on Mr Johnson’s new plan, which would mean a tax hike of 1.25 percent points in National Insurance across the UK.
This will apply to both working people and to their employers, and includes shareholders soon to be taxed on their profits.
The Government expects the new system to raise £12billion a year. For the first three years, this money will be diverted into funding the NHS and restarting non-emergency treatments.
After this point, more money will be funnelled into social care.
From this date, the ‘health and social care levy,’ as it will be labelled, will show up separately from National Insurance on workers’ payslips.
This new system prompted backlash within the Tory party and from opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
Sir Keir denounced the move as likely to punish the younger members in society, alongside other key workers such as nurses and supermarket staff.
This will also be the first time that pensioners who continue to work will not be exempt from paying National Insurance.
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Once this cap is reached, further care costs will be billed to local authorities.
This has proved controversial, as it has emerged that this applies only to physical care regulated by the Care Quality Commission, not additional costs associated with care such as “hotel costs” for care home residents or food.
Experts in the social care sector have condemned the new system as not going far enough to solve current issues.
Chairman of the Independent Care Group, Mike Padgham, took to Twitter to voice his anger at the new announcement.
He said: “Any extra funding for the sector, when it eventually arrives, will not be enough to tackle the staffing crisis & end the crisis.”
He continued: “Very disappointing that social care once again has to play second fiddle to the NHS.”
The National Insurance increase for health and social care has also been criticised by LBC host Nick Ferrari, who demanded an explanation from the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid.
Mr Ferrari grilled Mr Javid on where the extra funds from Brexit had gone, not least the millions of pounds for the NHS promised on the side of the now-famous Brexit bus.
Mr Javid replied that this money had been invested in the response to the unprecedented demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, including financing PPE and the Track and Trace system.
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