the armed forces ministerjames heappey appeared to concede that raising national insurance from april to pay for the covid backlog in social care, was unpopular, describing opposition among the audience in morecambe as absolute. everybody in the room is against it. everybody in the room is. is that fair? are you all against it? yeah. audience applauds. mr heappey also said that the government was in listening mode. you ll have noticed that the top of the government is in listening mode at the moment. and, erm. but the cabinet took the decision, and i think that it s important to recognise that actually as a tax, it will i think sort of 50% of the revenues raised by the top 14% of taxpayers, and there s six million people that pay nothing at all, so, erm, you know, it isn t the, eh, the blunt instrument that some people have described it as. there are calls from some conservative backbenchers for the rise to be delayed for a year. mel stride, who chairs the treasury select committee,
this is bbc news. i m victoria fritz with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the us demands a key gas pipeline is pulled if russia invades ukraine and it urges china to take a stand too. if china to take a stand too. russia invades ukraine ( way if russia invades ukraine one way or another, nordstream two will not move forward. the us coastguard has suspended the search for dozens of people lost after their boat capsized off the florida coast. uk government admits april s planned national insurance rise is unpopular but says they are in listening mode . the nigerian teens creating low budget sci fi films on their phones and grabbing the attention of hollywood.
budget, so we ve got that additional fiscal headroom. and the question then becomes, how do you use that? asked yesterday if the rise would go ahead, the prime minister said it was absolutely vital that covid backlogs and social care were fixed. his official spokesman later said there were no plans to change what had previously been set out. a treasury source said there had not been any discussions about changing the policy. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. our political correspondent nick eardleyjoins us now. good morning. everyone knows the cost of living crisis is very real. they are feeling it in all sorts of ways. but this idea that the government is in a listening mode, what does that mean? fix, government is in a listening mode, what does that mean? what does that mean? a good question. what does that mean? a good question, but what does that mean? a good question, but i what does that mean? a good question, but i think - what does that mean? a good question, but i thi
political correspondent helen catt reports. speaking on the bbc s question time programme, the armed forces minister appeared to concede that raising national insurance from april to pay for the covid backlog and social care was unpopular. describing opposition among the audience is absolute. is absolute. everybody in the room is against, is absolute. everybody in the room is against, everybody l is absolute. everybody in the | room is against, everybody in the room. i5 room is against, everybody in the room- - - the room. is that fair, are ou all the room. is that fair, are you all against the room. is that fair, are you all against it? - the room. is that fair, are you all against it? he - the room. is that fair, are you all against it? he also l you all against it? he also said that you all against it? he also said that the you all against it? he also said that the governmentl you all against it? he also - said that the government was in listening mode. you said that the g
has admitted that the government will need to do a lot more to help people struggling financially. he said the government is in listening mode . helen catt reports. welcome to question time. speaking on the bbc s question time programme, the armed forces ministerjames heappey appeared to concede that raising national insurance from april to pay for the covid backlog in social care was unpopular, describing opposition among the audience in morecambe as absolute. everybody in the room is against it. everybody in the room is feeling the squeeze. is that fair? are you all against it? yeah. audience applauds. mr heappey also said that the government was in listening mode. you ll have noticed that the top of the government is in listening mode at the moment. and, erm. but the cabinet took the decision, and i think that it s important to recognise that actually as a tax, it will i think sort of 50% of the revenue s raised by the top 14% of taxpayers, and there s six million people that p