Social Care Funding

Charlie Elphicke Excerpts
Monday 11th February 2013

(11 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Jeremy Hunt Portrait Mr Hunt
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Absolutely. There was a time when the Labour party would have considered a package that will be worth £1 billion a year by the end of the next Parliament to be a significant investment, but after its free spending ways of a billion here and a billion there, we are now talking real money.

Charlie Elphicke Portrait Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)
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May I congratulate my right hon. Friend on a meaningful step forward in the social care debate, with a proper settlement? The shadow Health Secretary made a spending commitment of a £35,000 cap; for the record, how much would that spending commitment cost the country?

Jeremy Hunt Portrait Mr Hunt
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What the shadow Secretary of State said this morning would have cost the country an extra £2.4 billion on top of the proposals that we are outlining today. Labour Members need to say whether they would pay for that by increasing taxes or by reducing spending, but perhaps they are thinking of adding to the deficit.