Kemi Badenoch accuses Keir Starmer of ‘milking’ the private sector

The NHS and the rest of the public sector will be shielded from the rise, but GP practices, run as businesses but delivering NHS services, will be impacted.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked the prime minister if he would exempt GPs and health care providers from the rise.

Sir Keir said the government would ensure GPs “have got the resources” and that funding arrangements would be set out.

Badenoch said the tax rise would see councils having to pay more for social care provision and asked if the government was considering lifting a cap on council tax to fill what she claimed was a £2.4bn hole in local government finances.

The prime minister said the Budget had included £600m to deal with “the pressures of adult social care”.

On the council tax cap, which prevents local councils from increasing tax by more than 5% without a local referendum, Sir Keir said Badenoch “knows what the arrangements are”.

The prime minister’s spokesperson later said the council tax cap would not change.

The Conservative leader used her final question to accuse Labour of having “nothing to offer except platitudes”.

“Their ideological budget was designed to milk the private sector and hope nobody would notice.”

She said his “tax mess” had led to cabinet ministers “queuing up for public sector bailouts”.

The prime minister said the Conservatives had produced “fourteen years of low growth” and Liz Truss’ “mini Budget”.

“Now she wants to give me advice on running the economy? No thank you very much.”