Income Tax (Charge)

Debate between Edward Argar and Polly Billington

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the ill-thought-out consequences of this hike for hospices and general practices, both in Scotland and elsewhere. I would dearly love to be able to respond to his question. Sadly, however, I am on this the side of the House and not the other side, but I am sure that the Chief Secretary will attempt to do so.

The Nuffield Trust has said that without additional financial support, the tax raid is likely to force social care providers to pass higher costs on to people who pay for their own care, or potentially collapse financially. Charities are not exempt either. As a result of the increases in the national living wage and employer’s national insurance contributions, one of the UK’s largest social care charities says it is facing an unfunded increased wage bill of £12 million a year, and Marie Curie has warned that the rises in employer’s NI contributions will only serve to put the services that it delivers on behalf of the NHS under further pressure. Those charities will be looking to the Chief Secretary to say what succour he can offer them in the form of an assurance that they will not be hit.

[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his place, but before throwing stones, will he just remind the House that under his Government’s plans, there would have been £15 billion less for the NHS, leaving it broken?

[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.