London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Nov 21, 2025

Who opposes Boris Johnson’s social care funding plans?

Who opposes Boris Johnson’s social care funding plans?

Potential rises in taxes or national insurance have sparked a significant backlash, including among Tory MPs

A significant rebellion is building up against plans to fund social care changes that are expected to be announced this week.

Despite cabinet ministers scrambling to finalise details of potential rises in taxes or national insurance contributions (NICs), reports of the latest version of the proposals have already sparked a significant backlash.

These are the groups coalescing against the idea:

Cabinet ministers


Members of Boris Johnson’s top team have not been coy about their opposition to breaking a significant manifesto promise. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, wrote in his Sunday Express column about the downfall of George Bush Sr in the 1988 US presidential election after breaking his “read my lips” promise not to raise taxes, before his defeat to Bill Clinton. “Voters remembered these words after President Bush had forgotten them,” Rees-Mogg noted, in a veiled threat to collective responsibility.

Other cabinet members said to be concerned include the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, the trade secretary, Liz Truss, and the justice secretary, Robert Buckland.

Tory backbenchers


Robert Halfon, the chair of the education select committee, said he had “huge worries” about raising national insurance given the impact it could have on lower-paid people, and unless the increase only affected those on incomes above roughly £40,000, he would struggle to vote with the government.

Alex Stafford, a “red wall” MP who represents Rother Valley in South Yorkshire, also said taxes should not be raised “willy-nilly” without concrete plans for how the money would be used. He said: “My concern is if they just add an extra 1% on national insurance or whatever, but no actual fundamental way to make social care provision better, it’s a bit pointless … We can’t just raise it without a new way of providing social care.”

Mark Pritchard, a backbencher who represents the Wrekin in Shropshire, warned of the wider impact on the UK economy of raking in more taxpayer money, saying there should be “more ‘tax carrots’ than sticks”.

The Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh hit out at “the unimaginative response of going for tax rises”, while Dehenna Davison, the MP for Bishop Auckland, said the Conservatives “absolutely cannot go against this manifesto”.

Stephen Hammond, a former health minister, said there were better ways to fund spending increases in social care, and warned a NI rise could lead to a sense of intergenerational unfairness.

Three former Conservative chancellors – Philip Hammond, Ken Clarke and Norman Lamont – have also come out against the idea.

Labour


Keir Starmer has signalled Labour will not support the move. He told the Daily Mirror: “We do need more investment in the NHS and social care but national insurance, this way of doing it, simply hits low earners, it hits young people and it hits businesses. We don’t agree that is the appropriate way to do it. Do we accept that we need more investment? Yes we do. Do we accept that NI is the right way to do it? No we don’t.”

The shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, said over the weekend she was open to a wealth tax to pay for social care, after Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, proposed the idea.

The Federation of Small Businesses


Mike Cherry, the chairman of the business body, hit out at what he called a “regressive levy”, warning it was “yet another outgoing for small businesses and sole traders to worry about against a backdrop of spiralling input prices, supply chain disruption, a deepening late payment crisis, rent arrears, rates bills returning, skills shortages and emergency loan repayments”.

Dominic Cummings


The former top adviser to Johnson, who has been deeply critical of his old boss since leaving No 10 last winter, said the prime minister’s plan to break manifesto promises “is a big policy and political blunder, if you value the Conservative party winning the next few elections”.

He wrote in a blog post: “A core problem with modern parties is they are (rightly IMO [in my opinion]) seen as fundamentally dishonest, incompetent, and out of touch. A core reason is they constantly make clear promises then break them.”

Cummings added that raising taxes would be a big boost for Labour as it would destroy the Conservatives’ attack line at the next election that people voting for Starmer’s party would see their contributions rise. “If ‘they’re all the same’ applies to both parties on tax, this is very bad for the Conservative party. And if Labour are smart enough to vote against the PM’s plan, Starmer will be able to shove this down Tory throats even more powerfully.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ASU Launches ASU London, Extending Its Innovation Brand to the UK Education Market
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Visit China in January as Diplomatic Reset Accelerates
Google Launches Voluntary Buyouts for UK Staff Amid AI-Driven Company Realignment
UK braces for freezing snap as snow and ice warnings escalate
Majority of UK Novelists Fear AI Could Displace Their Work, Cambridge Study Finds
UK's Carrier Strike Group Achieves Full Operational Capability During NATO Drill in Mediterranean
Trump and Mamdani to Meet at the White House: “The Communist Asked”
Nvidia Again Beats Forecasts, Shares Jump in After-Hours Trading
Wintry Conditions Persist Along UK Coasts After Up to Seven Centimetres of Snow
UK Inflation Eases to 3.6 % in October, Opening Door for Rate Cut
UK Accelerates Munitions Factory Build-Out to Reinforce Warfighting Readiness
UK Consumer Optimism Plunges Ahead of November Budget
A Decade of Innovation Stagnation at Apple: The Cook Era Critique
Caribbean Reparations Commission Seeks ‘Mutually Beneficial’ Justice from UK
EU Insists UK Must Contribute Financially for Access to Electricity Market and Broader Ties
UK to Outlaw Live-Event Ticket Resales Above Face Value
President Donald Trump Hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at White House to Seal Major Defence and Investment Deals
German Entertainment Icons Alice and Ellen Kessler Die Together at Age 89
UK Unveils Sweeping Asylum Reforms with 20-Year Settlement Wait and Conditional Status
UK Orders Twitter Hacker to Repay £4.1 Million Following 2020 High-Profile Breach
Popeyes UK Eyes Century Mark as Fried-Chicken Chain Accelerates Roll-out
Two-thirds of UK nurses report working while unwell amid staffing crisis
Britain to Reform Human-Rights Laws in Sweeping Asylum Policy Overhaul
Nearly Half of Job Losses Under Labour Government Affect UK Youth
UK Chancellor Reeves Eyes High-Value Home Levy in Budget to Raise Tens of Billions
UK Urges Poland to Choose Swedish Submarines in Multi-Billion € Defence Bid
US Border Czar Tom Homan Declares UK No Longer a ‘Friend’ Amid Intelligence Rift
UK Announces Reversal of Income Tax Hike Plans Ahead of Budget
Starmer Faces Mounting Turmoil as Leaked Briefings Ignite Leadership Plot Rumours
UK Commentator Sami Hamdi Returns Home After US Visa Revocation and Detention
UK Eyes Denmark-Style Asylum Rules in Major Migration Shift
UK Signals Intelligence Freeze Amid US Maritime Drug-Strike Campaign
TikTok Awards UK & Ireland 2025 Celebrates Top Creators Including Max Klymenko as Creator of the Year
UK Growth Nearly Stalls at 0.1% in Q3 as Cyberattack Halts Car Production
Apple Denied Permission to Appeal UK App Store Ruling, Faces Over £1bn Liability
UK Chooses Wylfa for First Small Modular Reactors, Drawing Sharp U.S. Objection
Starmer Faces Growing Labour Backlash as Briefing Sparks Authority Crisis
Reform UK Withdraws from BBC Documentary Amid Legal Storm Over Trump Speech Edit
UK Prime Minister Attempts to Reassert Authority Amid Internal Labour Leadership Drama
UK Upholds Firm Rules on Stablecoins to Shield Financial System
Brussels Divided as UK-EU Reset Stalls Over Budget Access
Prince Harry’s Remembrance Day Essay Expresses Strong Regret at Leaving Britain
UK Unemployment Hits 5% as Wage Growth Slows, Paving Way for Bank of England Rate Cut
Starmer Warns of Resurgent Racism in UK Politics as He Vows Child-Poverty Reforms
UK Grocery Inflation Slows to 4.7% as Supermarkets Launch Pre-Christmas Promotions
UK Government Backs the BBC amid Editing Scandal and Trump Threat of Legal Action
UK Assessment Mis-Estimated Fallout From Palestine Action Ban, Records Reveal
UK Halts Intelligence Sharing with US Amid Lethal Boat-Strike Concerns
King Charles III Leads Britain in Remembrance Sunday Tribute to War Dead
UK Retail Sales Growth Slows as Households Hold Back Ahead of Black Friday and Budget
×