A plan to hike National Insurance contributions will raise “enough money” to pay for reforms to the care sector in England and is “a very Conservative thing to do”, Sajid Javid has said.

The health secretary told Kay Burley that while “I don’t like raising taxes”, without these changes, NHS waiting lists would have reached 13 million people in three years time – the equivalent to one person in every family.

But he later clarified that “no responsible health secretary” could guarantee the money raised will clear the backlog.

It comes as MPs prepare to vote on the biggest tax rise for decades to fund the NHS and social care reforms.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that National Insurance contributions will rise by 1.25 percentage points to pay for the social care system in England in a bid to end the “unpredictable and catastrophic costs” faced by many.

A social care package, which the prime minister has called “the biggest catch-up programme” in the NHS’s history, will be funded through a new, UK-wide ‘health and social care levy’ from April 2022.

The government is confident it will win the vote later on Wednesday, but concerns remain both about how the £12bn will be raised and how much of it will be directed towards the care sector.

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