Debates between Jake Richards and Edward Morello during the 2024 Parliament

Employer National Insurance Contributions

Debate between Jake Richards and Edward Morello
Wednesday 4th December 2024

(2 weeks, 4 days ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jake Richards Portrait Jake Richards (Rother Valley) (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

The new intake of youngish—I use that description carefully—Members on this side of the House might be forgiven for having shorter memories than other, more long-suffering Members, but this is not the first time a Labour Chancellor has made difficult decisions on tax to invest in the future of public services, particularly our NHS. Twenty-two years ago, a Labour Chancellor told this House that the NHS was in need of reform and modernisation, and that investment was needed not only to deliver better services but to, in the inimitable style of Gordon Brown,

“define the character of our country.”—[Official Report, 17 April 2002; Vol. 383, c. 589.]

That decision to raise national insurance contributions, combined with far-sighted reforms, delivered the shortest waiting times, and the highest public satisfaction with the NHS, in our country’s history. Now, after 14 years of Tory Government, history has repeated itself. Once again, a Labour Government are fixing the mess made by the Tories, and our NHS is facing questions over its future and quality. Indeed, the choices are more stark today. The challenge before us is not simply to improve standards and resources in the NHS, but to save the very idea itself.

Back in 2002, the Tories opposed making difficult decisions on tax to support our NHS. Their then leader, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), used precisely the same slogans as the current Leader of the Opposition—the politics of protest, not government. A year later, he was out of his job; his own party lacked confidence in him and got rid of him. We are not able to gamble on political events, but what are the odds of history repeating itself here, too?

The Opposition crow about the Budget, but what is their alternative? Do they oppose the £22 billion investment in our NHS? From which magic money tree will they fund their ever-spiralling spending commitments? Fixing our public finances, without compromising our belief in a strong NHS, is at the heart of this Government’s agenda. That is so important, because I have had countless conversations with constituents who face agonising waits over years for basic operations, and with those who dread the 8 am rush to book an appointment at the local GP, knowing full well that they will often be disappointed. They know that the NHS needs urgent investment, but they also know that the NHS must change.

That is why the investment by this Government has been said to be a down payment on reform. We must transform the way in which our NHS operates; otherwise, the investment will be wasted. The NHS serves a wholly different population in a wholly different context from when the Labour party created it in 1947. We are living longer, our health issues are more structural, technology can transform our interactions with healthcare provision, and patients can feel more empowered, but we need to get funding into the NHS now.

The Tories want all the benefits of investment, but they have no idea how they would pay for it. We can look to history again to tell us what happens when Conservatives make promises without a clue about how they would fund them. Look at the 40 hospitals that have not been built. Look at the £6 billion black hole in our asylum system. Look at the mini-Budget.

Edward Morello Portrait Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The hon. Gentleman rightly points out the need to invest in the NHS. Does he recognise that imposing NICs on primary healthcare providers such as my constituency’s Weldmar Hospicecare, which provides vital end of life care to residents and must raise £26,000 a day to fund its service, will result—

Caroline Nokes Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Order. That was perfectly long enough.