Income Tax (Charge)

Claire Young Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

While this Budget has some welcome measures, including adopting Liberal Democrat proposals on increasing the earnings limit for carer’s allowance, others raise serious concerns. The previous Conservative Government left our NHS on its knees. People in Thornbury and Yate are fed up with struggling to get a GP appointment or register with an NHS dentist, so I will be holding the Government to account to ensure that the extra funding actually delivers for patients.

On that note, I am deeply concerned about the knock-on impacts of raising employer’s national insurance contributions on those parts of the system that are not in the public sector. GPs and pharmacists play a vital role in preventive health and in detecting serious problems early, yet because many are privately run businesses, they will be left footing a huge new tax bill. I have been contacted by several concerned local GP surgeries. One told me that as it had a large number of part-time workers who were previously exempt but will now be eligible, the national insurance increase alone will wipe 2.5% off its top-line budget. Another told me:

“This change will have a significant financial impact on general practices, including my own, and can only serve to directly undermine access and patient care”.

[Mr Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) (Ind)]

Blackburn has the third highest number of patients per GP. Does the Member agree that, despite the ringfencing of the funding that GP surgeries get, the increase in national insurance will essentially reduce the number of available appointments at GP surgeries?

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Young]

That is exactly the point that my local GP was trying to make, and I am not clear from the Secretary of State’s earlier remarks whether this will be addressed.

Similarly, the majority of social care providers are privately run companies. They play a huge part in reducing pressure on hospitals, and raising employer’s national insurance will deal a hammer blow to struggling providers. That is why I urge the Government to think again and provide them with the same support they have provided for publicly owned NHS services. They should instead look to raise the money needed by reversing Conservative tax cuts for the big banks, or by asking the social media giants to pay their fair share. I was disappointed that the Budget made little or no reference to social care, and I urge Ministers to start cross-party talks on social care now.

The other area that I want to touch on is flooding. I draw the House’s attention to the letter I sent ahead of the Budget about the need to support local authorities to prevent and respond to flooding. My Thornbury and Yate constituency recently endured 50% of its annual rainfall in just one month. The council has had to respond to that within its already overstretched budget. While I welcome the funding for flood resilience projects, it needs to be recognised that years of underfunding under the last Government have left councils struggling to maintain their infrastructure to prevent surface water flooding.

Given more time, I would like to cover other topics, including the concern that the additional SEND funding will barely touch the sides, the impacts on farmers, bus users and small businesses, and the ongoing financial crisis in local government. Instead, I will conclude by noting that the unintended consequences lurking in this Budget put at risk much-needed improvements to our public services. I hope the Government will think again and make the right decisions now for the long term, including fixing social care and delivering long-term infrastructure improvements.