Scarborough and Whitby MP supports plans to reform social care
Robert Goodwill says the NHS is the single most important aspect of our country
The MP for Scarborough and Whitby says he supports plans to reform the social care system.
Yesterday the Prime Minister announced he is raising national insurance by 1.25 percent to do that and to help clear huge NHS backlogs.
Robert Goodwill said:
"I think people understand that when we wrote the manifesto, when we made the promise to not put up tax, that was before the pandemic and before we got ourselves into this dreadful situation and although our opponents here in Parliament criticise, I don't think they have a Plan B.
"Yes, we're going to have to play more tax but I think the NHS is the single most important aspect of our country and fixing this social care problem that's been around for such a long time, Parliament agreed to fix it some time ago and we never did anything. I think we've grasped that nettle and talking to constituents, I think they will support that too.
"The highest earning 14 percent of people in our country will contribute half the revenue to this. No-one earning less than ÂŁ9,568 will pay a penny, so the very poorest people, like those on part time jobs, won't contribute at all.
"This will raise the money we need to fix our health services and to build those new hospitals. We've got ÂŁ46 million going into Scarborough Hospital for a new A&E unit, for new intensive care, high dependency beds and fixing the heating system and that'll mean we'll have more doctors, nurses and more capacity within our health service.
"I think most people will realise that it's worth paying a little bit more tax for because you never know when you'll need the NHS. The idea that people are going to have to wait months or even years for some operations to fix their painful conditions, I don't think is acceptable."