Liberal Democrats table amendment to exempt health and care providers from NICs hike

The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to the UK Government’s National Insurance Contributions Bill to exempt health and care providers from the proposed tax hike and warned that the government’s jobs tax risks “making the crisis in health and care even worse”.

The Lib Dem amendment would protect social care providers, hospices, NHS GPs, dentists and pharmacies from being hit by the NICs rise.

The Liberal Democrats have called the government’s proposed NICs hike “self-defeating” and said it will “only inflict more misery on patients”. The party urged the chancellor to “urgently rethink" the tax change or risk “making the crisis in health and care even worse”.

Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:

“Thanks to years of SNP and Conservative neglect, our NHS and care are in crisis, with patients left to suffer. The new government’s self-defeating tax rise will only inflict more misery on patients and risks making the crisis in health and care even worse.

“I have spoken to many in the sector, including my own constituents, who say that the hike is causing them serious financial difficulties.

“The chancellor must surely recognise that you cannot fix the economy without fixing our NHS. All this tax hike will do is pile more pressure onto our health and care services which are already on the brink of collapse.

“The government must urgently rethink this decision, back our amendment to exempt vital health and care providers from this tax hike and focus instead on getting people off waiting lists and back into work, not burdening GPs and care providers with even higher costs.”