Health and Social Care

Mel Stride Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

People in the social care profession, overwhelmingly, are not paid by the Government as the hon. Member knows, but they are the beneficiaries of the living wage, which the Government have increased by record amounts. What we are doing is investing in their training, investing in their careers and making sure that they get the respect and the progression that they need.

[Mel Stride (Central Devon) (Con)]

The devil, as ever, will be in the detail. However, may I initially broadly welcome these proposals, particularly compared with what we were expecting, which was a rise across national insurance as it stands at the moment? This is a much broader-based levy: it includes those who have retired and those who are receiving dividends. It seems to me that that has a very welcome consequence; the broadest shoulders will pay the most. But can my right hon. Friend also address one of the criticisms of what we feared might have been brought forward today, which was the impact on the young in particular and this issue of intergenerational fairness, and how he feels that this approach is going to be useful in that respect?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend very much for his support, because it is extremely important, and I think he is completely right. We are trying to make sure that those who can pay the most do pay the most. We are trying to make sure that we address the issue of intergenerational fairness. But there is a bigger point, which I have made repeatedly. This is not something that simply affects one generation, the elderly. There are huge numbers of younger people in care who will benefit from what we are doing and every person in this country has relatives who face the problems that we are trying now to allay or to defeat.