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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2021/sep/08/health-social-care-levy-tax-ni-pmqs-sajid-javid-boris-johnson-politics-live
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| PMQs: Starmer accuses Johnson of ‘hammering workers’ before debate on tax rise for health and social care – live | PMQs: Starmer accuses Johnson of ‘hammering workers’ before debate on tax rise for health and social care – live |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Labour leader says PM cannot even say that tax rise will clear the NHS backlog during PMQs | Labour leader says PM cannot even say that tax rise will clear the NHS backlog during PMQs |
| MPs are now debating the government’s motion approving the £12bn health and social care levy. | |
| Nigel Evans, the deputy speaker, says the Labour amendment has been selected. That is the one saying the resolution should be passed conditional on the government publishing an impact assessment showing how it will impact on different income groups and regions. (See 11.52am.) | |
| Jesse Norman, a junior Treasury minister, is opening the debate for the government. For something this important, you would normally expect a cabinet minister to take the lead. But ministers are now very comfortable of winning, and the fact that Norman has been put up suggests the whips are not anticipating much trouble. | |
| Gavin Williamson said he had met England footballer Marcus Rashford online when he had in fact met rugby player Maro Itoje, the Evening Standard has reported. | |
| The paper includes the revelation in an interview with Williamson by Susannah Butter. She writes: | |
| David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has said that Williamson’s apparent failure to be able to tell the difference between two black sportsmen is “appalling”. | |
| And this is Rashford’s response. | |
| Boris Johnson quite comfortably had the best of that encounter. Being back in a crowded House of Commons helped (the Tory backbenchers were cheering quite a lot, and that always serves to buoy a minister at the dispatch box), but mostly it was because Johnson came across as someone still flabbergasted by how well his £12bn manifesto-busting tax increase seems to have landed. Sir Keir Starmer was better than he was in the chamber yesterday, but Labour’s response remains unfocused and unpersuasive. | |
| Starmer started by raising an issue that had Sajid Javid rattled when it came up on the Today programme this morning: the failure of the plan announced yesterday to ensure that no one will have to sell their home to pay for social care. (See 10.22am.) It is a key topic because, until yesterday, about the only specific thing Johnson would say about his thinking on social care was that he wanted to stop people having to sell the family home and, as Starmer pointed out, the new plans will not achieve that for people who do not have a spare £86,000 to hand in cash, on top of the family home. So far, though, this drawback with the plan does not seem to have resonated widely with the media. Partly that’s because there are mechanisms available to ensure that, even if people have to sell the family home to pay for care, they do not necessarily have to move out of it while they are alive. And partly, perhaps, it is because people may have assumed (again) that Johnson’s promise was unrealistic in the first place. | |
| Yesterday Starmer was criticising the Tories for no longer being the party of low tax. Given that Labour itself is not a low-tax party, this was problematic, and today he was focusing more on another dividing line: he criticised Johnson for penalising working people with his tax plans, saying Labour would tax those with the “broadest shoulders” instead. Given that the Resolution Foundation, a thinktank not hostile to Labour, says the national insurance increase is “progressive”, this argument is questionable, but it exposes a more fundamental weakness in Starmer’s position. He ended his exchanges by saying he was facing “the same old Tory party”, yet it is obvious that Johnson’s brand of Conservatism is not the same as the austerity model of 10 years ago. It was reminiscent of John Major’s doomed attempt to depict Tony Blair as an old-style socialist. In politics, as in all other forms of conflict, to beat the enemy, you need to understand them first. | |
| It would also help to have a clearer alternative offer. Starmer probably does not need a fully-costed policy blueprint, but he does need something more than a vague intention to fund social care with higher taxes for the wealthy if he is going to convince voters that Labour is more credible on this issue. Johnson’s line about at least having a policy, unlike the opposition, clearly strikes a chord. And at the moment he seems to be beating Labour on health - a remarkable achievement for a Conservative PM. | |
| Judging by the cheering, Tory MPs sounded more happy with their leader’s performance than Labour’s did. This is not always a good guide to who has done best, but PMQs matters almost as much for what it can do to a leader’s reputation with the parliamentary party as it does for their reputation with the public at large, and this afternoon the Conservative do seem to be in a much happier place. | |
| Peter Bone (Con) says he is putting forward a private member’s bill saying asylum seekers coming from a safe country will have to return there. Will the PM back this? | Peter Bone (Con) says he is putting forward a private member’s bill saying asylum seekers coming from a safe country will have to return there. Will the PM back this? |
| Johnson says the government has its own bill that will ensure people coming to the country illegally are not treated in the same way as people coming to the country legally. | Johnson says the government has its own bill that will ensure people coming to the country illegally are not treated in the same way as people coming to the country legally. |
| Gareth Thomas (Lab) says newly qualified graduates will face a marginal tax rate of almost 50% under the PM’s new plans. Isn’t this another example of the poor being asked to pay more so the rich pay less? | Gareth Thomas (Lab) says newly qualified graduates will face a marginal tax rate of almost 50% under the PM’s new plans. Isn’t this another example of the poor being asked to pay more so the rich pay less? |
| Johnson disagrees. He says the rich are paying more. | Johnson disagrees. He says the rich are paying more. |
| Wendy Chamberlain (Lib Dem) asks what practical support will be provided to EU citizens trying to stay in the UK. | Wendy Chamberlain (Lib Dem) asks what practical support will be provided to EU citizens trying to stay in the UK. |
| Johnson says the EU settlement scheme has helped 6 million people. That is double the number expected. | Johnson says the EU settlement scheme has helped 6 million people. That is double the number expected. |
| Peter Kyle (Lab) asks Johnson if he can say Gavin Williamson is the right person to be education secretary. | Peter Kyle (Lab) asks Johnson if he can say Gavin Williamson is the right person to be education secretary. |
| Johnson says Williamson has done a heroic job in difficult circumstances. The job of teachers would have been much easier if Labour had said schools were safe. | Johnson says Williamson has done a heroic job in difficult circumstances. The job of teachers would have been much easier if Labour had said schools were safe. |
| James Gray (Con) asks the PM to join him in thanking volunteers for St John Ambulance. | James Gray (Con) asks the PM to join him in thanking volunteers for St John Ambulance. |
| Johnson says they do an astonishing job. And he urges people who have not yet had a Covid vaccine to get one now. | Johnson says they do an astonishing job. And he urges people who have not yet had a Covid vaccine to get one now. |
| Neale Hanvey (Alba) asks what Johnson means when he says people should rise out of poverty through their own efforts. | Neale Hanvey (Alba) asks what Johnson means when he says people should rise out of poverty through their own efforts. |
| Johnson says he wants to see a jobs-led recovery. He is proud to see wages rising by the highest rate for years. | Johnson says he wants to see a jobs-led recovery. He is proud to see wages rising by the highest rate for years. |
| Lee Anderson (Con) says migrants crossing the Channel should be sent straight back. | Lee Anderson (Con) says migrants crossing the Channel should be sent straight back. |
| Johnson says human trafficking is a vile trade. The government is trying to stop it, he says. | Johnson says human trafficking is a vile trade. The government is trying to stop it, he says. |
| Emma Lewell-Buck (Lab) says a constituent spent a long time getting through to the helpline for non-British nationals in Afghanistan. When the call was over, and they thought he had hung up, the constituent heard the person on the other end laughing, and saying they were having to lie to people. | Emma Lewell-Buck (Lab) says a constituent spent a long time getting through to the helpline for non-British nationals in Afghanistan. When the call was over, and they thought he had hung up, the constituent heard the person on the other end laughing, and saying they were having to lie to people. |
| Johnson says he will look into it. | Johnson says he will look into it. |
| Richard Drax (Con) invites the PM to visit Weymouth, so he can see why it needs better infrastructure. | Richard Drax (Con) invites the PM to visit Weymouth, so he can see why it needs better infrastructure. |
| Johnson says he can think of nothing better than a trip to Weymouth. | Johnson says he can think of nothing better than a trip to Weymouth. |
| Johnson says the shortage of HGV drivers is affecting countries all over Europe. | Johnson says the shortage of HGV drivers is affecting countries all over Europe. |