National Insurance may need to rise to solve the crisis in the health and social care systems, says an influential Conservative MP, despite the party’s “tax lock” promise.
Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Health Select Committee, told Sky News that a cross-party group should report what levels of taxation and national insurance could fund European-style services.
She added that Theresa May’s “new leadership” should rethink the Conservative manifesto pledge not to raise taxes.
“We need to set out what it would cost with taxation and National Insurance to bring us up to the same kinds of levels of funding as France and Germany,” she said.
When asked if the manifesto commitment not to increase taxation prevented such thinking, Ms Wollaston, a trained GP, replied: “Indeed, and I think that is a challenge.
“But I think we now have new leadership in our Government, and I think a realisation that the scale of this is so great that doing nothing also needs to be set out to the public.”
She continued: “Ultimately, if people want to have the service that we all expect, then we are going to have to be prepared for that at the kind of levels (of funding) that we see in France and Germany.”
Full story on Sky News, 9 February 2017