Thank you for contacting me about the Health and Social Care Levy.
I have spoken with colleagues at the Treasury about the introduction of a Health and Social Care Levy (HSCL) and I understand that they viewed this measure as a difficult but necessary one. The decision to raise taxes was not taken lightly, but it will mean that we can face the challenges facing health and social care in the UK following the coronavirus pandemic. When we have spent over £400bn in trying to protect the country from the Covid pandemic and all of its effects, it is obvious that borrowing even more to instigate a plan in an area of policy that has been avoided by successive Governments would not be in the long-term interests of the country.
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