Image source, HoC

The Labour leader pokes fun at the PM, quoting "an ambitious young member for Henley said in 2002".

Back then, Johnson called National Insurance increases "regressive".

"I wonder what happened to him," he adds.

Starmer then asks the PM that if he is going ahead with the "unfair tax", can he guarantee the NHS waiting list will be cleared by the end of the parliament.

Johnson says the country appreciates that the Tories "have a plan" unlike Labour, who he claims "failed to address" issues in the NHS and social care for "a decade".

And he again criticises the opposition over its plan to vote against the new tax tonight.

Starmer says the PM's plan imposes an unfair tax on working people.

Labour would make sure "those with the broadest shoulders" pay their fair share he adds.

The PM says his measures are "broad based and progressive" and the households with the highest income will pay more.

Johnson says where is Labour's plan?

And he repeats his question about how Labour intends to vote this evening.

Image source, HoC

Starmer says the PM did not stand by his guarantee that no-one will have to sell their home to pay for care.

The Labour leader says for someone with assets of £186,000 - including their home - they will still have to pay £86,000 towards care.

"Where does the prime minister think they are going to get that without selling their home," he asks.

Johnson says it is the first time the state has "actually come into deal with the threat of catastrophic costs" of care, and as a result, the private sector will come up with insurance products to serve people.

He again attacks Labour for not doing anything on tackling issues of health and social care during its time in power.

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Keir Starmer is on his feet.

He kicks off with social care and the prime minister's earlier promise to guarantee that no-one needing social care will need to sell their home.

Will he stand by that pledge, he wants to know.

The PM says this deals with catastrophic costs people face and the government is taking the tough decisions that the country wants to see.

Johnson then hits back at the Labour leader and asks how will Labour vote on the proposal tonight.

Labour's Mick Whitley gets things going with a question on the end to the universal credit uplift of £20 a week, due to come to an end later this month.

Boris Johnson defends the government's actions and the support offered in the pandemic.

Image source, HoC

New health and social care tax poses political risk for both Johnson and Starmerpublished at 12:02 British Summer Time 8 September 2021

12:02 BST 8 September 2021

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

After borrowing hundreds of billions to deal with the pandemic Boris Johnson is about to put up taxes to fund the NHS and eventually social care too.

And Labour will vote against it.

It feels like a distortion of the political landscape that we’ve observed over the years.

The audacious move brings political risks for the prime minister and Keir Starmer.

The former is hoping that his instinct is right – that voters want better funded public services and are willing to pay for it.

Labour’s hoping that people will think the tax is falling unfairly on lower paid workers and that a party that breaks its election promises will get punished.

Many Tory MPs have reservations but how outspoken will they be to Mr Johnson’s face?

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called Boris Johnson to the despatch box - and this week's Prime Minister's Questions is under way.

Here we go.....

Image source, UK Parliament

MPs will vote at 19:00 BST on whether to support the government’s new tax plans.

They have to authorise the tax rise in the Commons for it to come into force.

There are three amendments to the motion - when MPs table changes they want to make.

Two of them are from the frontbench teams of Labour and the SNP and both would require assessments of the impact of this tax rise on things like people's incomes.

The other amendment is from a backbench group of left-wing MPs - including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott - that proposes a wealth tax on individuals with assets totalling over £5,000,000 as an alternative.

The Speaker will announce at the start of debate which, if any, amendments he has selected to be voted on.

But even if they are chosen, they are not expected to pass.

With Labour MPs expected to vote against the new tax increase, there appears to be little sign of jeopardy for the government in getting the new changes approved - even if some of Boris Johnson's own MPs also express more doubts today.

Employees and the self-employed will pay more tax from April 2022 as a result of the plan announced yesterday.

At first, this will be as a 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance.

Then from April 2023, National Insurance will return to its current rate, but a new health and social care tax will be introduced at a rate of 1.25% - making up for the change to National Insurance.

On wage slips it will appear as a "Health and Social Care Levy".

The levy - unlike National Insurance - will also be paid by pensioners who work.

People who earn under £9,564 don't have to pay National Insurance or the new levy.

Employers will pay more National Insurance - and the levy.

Read our guide in full here.

PM bets on imperfection over inactionpublished at 11:42 British Summer Time 8 September 2021

11:42 BST 8 September 2021

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

Image source, Reuters

Boris Johnson has long believed that conventions are there to be broken. He's certainly done that.

A pair of election promises have been torn up. The Treasury's shaken off its traditional allergy to new specific taxes.

Highly significant changes are being made to the tax and health system without wide debate among ministers or the governing party.

Pensioners who keep working will pay national insurance for the first time.

And again, Tuesday's decisions confirm Boris Johnson's credo includes being a big spender, if he deems the moment requires it.

It's provided yet more evidence that his government believes the public is willing to accept heavy price tags, and broken political vows, as long as the label is marked "NHS".

Read Laura's blog in full here.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said the new health and social care tax is needed because the systems are facing the "biggest challenges in our lifetimes".

Speaking to the BBC earlier, Javid said "more" of the money over the next three years would be going into the NHS because there are waiting list issues "right now" so that's "where we need resources" to go.

“What I can be absolutely certain of is that this will massively reduce the waiting list from where it would otherwise have been," he said.

"As health and social care secretary, I can certainly point to the huge challenges - fair to say the biggest challenges in our lifetime - that the NHS and social care have faced."

The minister added: "As a government, you can either stand back and leave it as 'business as usual', or you can address it and help tackle these challenges."

Image source, HoC

Welcome to our live coverage of this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions.

It’s the first question time for Boris Johnson since Parliament’s summer break.

But he has already faced MPs in the Commons – with yesterday’s announcement of the new Health and Social Care Levy, and when Parliament was recalled last month for an emergency debate on the withdrawal of UK troops from Afghanistan.

Both events were met with criticism from some MPs, so we'll be watching to see what the mood is like in the chamber today.

Do stay with us for all the updates.