Politics Live
6:00pm – Goodbye
What a busy day! That’s all from the live team today. We’ll back again tomorrow, see you then.
5:55pm – PM defends Afghanistan response to angry House
4:45pm – Afghanistan debate update
💥WATCH: @Ianblackford_MP: "Raab should've been sacked weeks ago". pic.twitter.com/A0pFwe7WDa
— Politics.co.uk (@Politics_co_uk) September 6, 2021
WATCH: Boris Johnson updates the House on the Afghan resettlement programme pic.twitter.com/ilbGsGsDGv
— Politics.co.uk (@Politics_co_uk) September 6, 2021
3:40pm – BoJo trim
Boris Johnson is back, with a fresh haircut. The new school term has well and truly arrived.
Back from recess, with a new haircut 💇♂️ pic.twitter.com/p23jxKCJE8
— Chris Lomas (@chrislomas_) September 6, 2021
2:15pm – What’s on in parliament today
1:30pm – Sausage Wars II
12:45pm – Kuenssberg on govt health care announcements
Couple of interesting strands this morning – hearing govt would be likely to hold a vote sooner rather than later on NI rise for health and care, before they technically would have to as part of normal Budget process
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) September 6, 2021
And hearing some concern in health circles that the 5.5bn extra cash til April being confirmed later today is a sweetener for the reality of the long term deal expected tomorrow – still a big chunk of cash but the long term details and reforms will be vital
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) September 6, 2021
11:00am – Social care conundrum
Parliament returns from its summer recess today with a rather large to-do list for the government. Perhaps the most pressing challenge facing Boris Johnson this morning is his conundrum over social care,
The prime minister looks set to break one of his manifesto pledges to fund plans to overhaul social care, by hiking up national insurance contributions by around 1.25%. The expected announcement tomorrow is likely to cause a significant backlash from within the Conservative party.
Why is this such a big deal for Boris Johnson? Many in his shoes have tried and failed to sort out social care in the past.
In his first speech on the steps of Downing Street in July 2019, Johnson proclaimed: “I am announcing now, on the steps of Downing Street, that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared.” Two years on, it looks as though the PM has decided to roll the dice.
9:20am – Headlines
- Ministers criticise social care funding plans
- Virus spike warning as children return to school
- PM to face questions over Afghanistan
9:10am – Newspaper round-up
- The Guardian: PM faces mutiny over plan to raise taxes for social care – Boris Johnson’s expected plan to raise National Insurance in order to fund social care dominates many of the front pages. The Guardian report that there may be a “mutiny” within the Tory party as the PM is poised to break a manifesto pledge.
- The Daily Telegraph: Tory party grandees join tax rise revolt – The Telegraph reports how former chancellor Norman Lamont criticised the tax proposals, saying an income tax raise would be fairer and not hit younger workers as hard.
- Metro: Young face tax crunch – The Metro focuses on how younger workers may be hit hardest by the national insurance rise.
- The Express: Plea to nation: share tax pain to solve NHS crisis – The Daily Express “pleas” to the public saying that people should share the burden for solving the NHS crisis.
