Income Tax (Charge)

Debate between Edward Argar and Josh Fenton-Glynn

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her place as well. I think this is the first opportunity I have had to respond to a intervention or question from her.

In fact, we put record funding into the NHS—£164.9 billion per year—and on top of that we recruited more doctors and more nurses. We did not do that by piling tax hikes on hospices and general practices, among others. I am not sure how hitting primary care, social care or charities supporting NHS services will help the Secretary of State to deliver his aim of cutting waiting lists. I hope that the Chief Secretary will tell the House what steps the Treasury is taking to ensure that those organisations are not hit by these changes.

Let me take a moment to consider what was not included in the Budget.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Edward Argar]

I will make a bit of progress, if I may.

There were no plans for social care reform after the Chancellor broke Labour’s promise to deliver the cap on social care costs. I hear what the Secretary of State says about a willingness to work on what is a challenge facing our whole country and society: with an ageing population, how do we address the challenge of social care? There were no further detailed plans for NHS dentistry, despite the election pledge to deliver more dental appointments. There was no support for pharmacies or for the day-to-day running of general practice, and there were still no additional resources for the NHS this winter—or, indeed, the details of reform to go with them.