Wes Streeting will launch a vocal defence of the party’s tax rises on Tuesday, pledging an extra 8.3m GP appointments to “end the 8am scramble” and telling his opponents that the investment would not be possible without the national insurance rise.
The health secretary, who has been the party’s most vocal challenger on Reform, is expected to step up the attacks on opposition parties, which have dubbed the NICs rise for employers a “job tax” and said he would challenge those who had criticised the rise on how they would fund investment in the health service.
