parapet and openly criticised the government. nevertheless, there is a pr drive going on from the government tojustify pr drive going on from the government to justify the need to put up taxes to provide extra money for the nhs and the long term plan for the nhs and the long term plan for social care. for the nhs and the long term plan forsocial care. it for the nhs and the long term plan for social care. it was the social secretary, sajid javid he was sent out to bat for the government this morning. i was told that if things carry on as they were business as usual that we would be looking at a waiting list of about 13 million in three years time. now, my choice is, at that point, i can say, well, you know, we made a promise in the manifesto and we don t want to break it, let s doggedly stick to it and let that waiting list go to 13 million. or we canjust confront the problem, be honest with the british people, take the difficult decision and say, yes, we have broken a manifesto
it s wednesday the 8th of september. our top story. mps will vote today on the government s plans to increase national insurance contributions to fund health and social care in england. ministers say it will raise £12 billion a year, which will be used to tackle the nhs backlog caused by the pandemic and boost social care funding. but, it means next year will see the highest tax increase forfour decades, and breaks a conservative manifesto promise. 0ur political correspondent, helen catt reports. the covid pandemic has left the nhs with some big waiting lists to clear. funding social care has been a problem for years. the government s answer to both is to raise national insurance against its promises. we cannot now shirk the challenge of putting the nhs back on its feet, which requires fixing the problem of social care and investing the money needed. so we will do what is right, reasonable and fair.
is the thought of a tax on share dividend, too, which has done a lot to allay concerns, so borisjohnson will be pretty happy going into the first prime minister s questions but there has been a real drive from ministers to justify this tax rise with the health secretary sajid javid doing the rounds this morning. i was told that if things carry on as they were business as usual that we would be looking at a waiting list of about 13 million in three years time. now, my choice is, at that point, i can say, well, you know, we made a promise in the manifesto and we don t want to break it, let s doggedly stick to it and let that waiting list go to 13 million. or we canjust confront the problem, be honest with the british people, take the difficult decision and say, yes, we have broken a manifesto promise, but we also didn t know there was going to be a global pandemic and we re going to tackle that waiting list because we have also promised to you that the nhs
were not being talked about in advanced are now being talked about now that people have seen the details. 0ne now that people have seen the details. one of the issues, politically, delivering this extra money for first of all the nhs, for the covid 19 backlog and then changes to social care means the government is having to raise a lot of money. they are doing it through the health and social care levy, which is an increase of national insurance, which means borisjohnson is breaking one of his manifesto pledges at the last election, which was not to raise rates of national insurance. at the health secretary, sajid javid, was tackling that head on this morning. i was told that if things carry on as they were business as usual that we would be looking at a waiting list of about 13 million in three years time. now, my choice is, at that point, i can say, well, you know, we made a promise in the manifesto and we don t want to break it, let s doggedly stick to it and let that waiting
this is bbc news. the headlines at 11. mps will vote later today on the prime minister s plans for tax rises, to fund the nhs and social care. the health secretary defends breaking election promises to pay for the changes. yes, we have broken a manifesto promise but we did not know the global pandemic and we will tackle the waiting list because we have promised to you that the nhs will always be there for you. but independent analysis just released by the institute for fiscal studies shows an evergrowing nhs budget could swallow up all of the money raised leaving little for social care. what do you think of the new taxes? get in touch with your questions by using the hash tag #bbcyourquestions or by emailing yourquestions@bbc. co. uk. we ll be answering them