Keir Starmer ordered MPs to vote against the government’s national insurance rise and social care plan, amid jitters from some MPs as to how the party can counter a Conservative party prepared to raise taxes to fund the NHS. On Wednesday, Labour confirmed it would publish its own fully-costed social care plan which could include additional funds raised on income from financial assets or property – but would not set a timeframe for doing so.
There is private frustration among some in the party that no firmer plan has been produced, which two shadow cabinet sources blamed on both Starmer and the shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth. Starmer has said only that those with the “broadest shoulders” should pay more to fix the system. It is understood there was no detailed discussion of how to respond to Johnson’s social care proposals at Monday’s three-hour shadow cabinet meeting However, other senior sources defended the approach, saying the party had to announce its policies on its own terms. “When we announce these major policies – which will be the cornerstone of our economic plan – we have to do it on our terms and make it our moment,” one shadow cabinet minister said. Speaking in the Commons, the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, highlighted a number of areas that were facing no additional tax burdens, a hint at the areas Labour could examine. “They include those who get their income from financial assets, stocks and shares. Sales of property. Pension income. Annuity income. Interest income. Property rental income. Inheritance income,” she said.
Reeves said the party opposed a rise in national insurance because of the burden on younger working people and said the £86,000 cap on care costs would not save pensioners having to sell their homes. “It is a broken promise, it is unfair, and it is a tax on jobs,” she said. “Under the prime minister’s plan, many will still face the threat of selling their homes to fund their care. Someone with a house worth £186,000 would still have to pay £86,000 even with this cap – and that’s before living costs of going into a care home. How does the chancellor suggest they pay those fees without selling their home?” Reeves said Labour had set out a number of policies to deal with the crisis in social care. “Our guiding principle will be ‘home first – because that’s what the overwhelming majority of people want,” she said, adding the party would also offer “a new deal for care workers to create a well-motivated, skilled and properly rewarded workforce, with higher wages and more support for unpaid carers”. At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Boris Johnson repeatedly challenged the Labour leader to say what his alternative plan would be. Starmer replied: “His plan is to impose an unfair tax on working people. My plan is to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share. That is the difference.” Seventeen leftwing MPs have called for a new wealth tax to replace the national insurance rise, taxing those with assets worth over £5m. The former shadow cabinet minister Richard Burgon said: “The wealth of the richest in our society has skyrocketed while millions of families are struggling to make ends meet. We urgently need investment in our social services and we should tax the wealth of the super-rich to fund it, not pile more costs on to working people.”