Kwarteng: No U-Turn on National Insurance tax rise

There will be "no U-turn" on a planned National Insurance hike intended to fund health and social care, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said.

The planned rise has faced criticism from MPs, including calls from Conservatives for it to be scrapped.

Critics have said that the increase will have a higher impact on the lower-paid and contribute to inflation.

But the government has said it is needed to help the NHS recover after the pandemic.

Mr Kwarteng told the BBC on Thursday that there would be "No u-turn" on the rise.

"We're totally committed to funding the NHS, clearing the backlog of the NHS, and also funding social care and the way to do that is through this tax rise.

"That's how we're going to get the revenue to pay for the backlog and to pay for a sustainable social care system," he said.

It comes after a Treasury Select Committee report warned that the planned rise would contribute to a rise in inflation.

Mel Stride, a Conservative MP and the committee chairman, told the BBC on Thursday that there was an "opportunity now to not go ahead with the National Insurance rise in April", and that he would prefer to see it delayed for a year.