ALL of north Essex’s MPs have backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial move to raise National Insurance contributions to fund the NHS and social care budgets.

Plans will now move forward with the Government ready to increase the contributions by 1.25 percentage points.

The rise is expected to begin in April, with the Government saying it will raise an extra £12billion in funding for the NHS and social care.

It is hoped the move will tackle “catastrophic costs” imposed on people seeking care, according to Mr Johnson.

However, the Prime Minister admitted the plans broke his manifesto pledge not to raise tax, and faced opposition from Labour as well as some of his own backbench MPs.

But despite this, the Government secured the votes it needed to pass the plans on Wednesday with 319 MPs voting in favour and just 248 against.

Among the MPs to side with the Government were all the MPs who represent constituencies in north Essex - Witham MP and Home Secretary Priti Patel, Colchester MP Will Quince, Harwich and North Colchester MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, Braintree MP James Cleverly, Clacton’s Giles Watling and Maldon’s John Whittingdale all voted in favour of the Government’s plans.

Mr Quince took to social media and said: “The Government’s record funding boost for our NHS and social care system has passed through Parliament.

“We have today made clear that this Government will not duck away from fixing the backlog we have in our NHS due to the pandemic and fixing our social care system.

“I welcome the proposed investment of a record £12billion a year into our NHS and social care system.

“This new funding will be raised by a new 1.25 per cent ringfenced Health and Social Care levy based on National Insurance Contributions.”

Under the new plans, there would be an £86,000 cap on social care spending with local authorities picking up the bill beyond this point.

Major funding is also needed to clear the backlog of treatment caused by the Covid pandemic.

Opposition parties - including Labour and the SNP - voted against the proposals, saying they were unfair on working people.

Labour also raised concerns some people could be forced to sell their homes to pay for care under the new plans due to food and accommodation not being included in the cap.

Mr Cleverly said he surprised Labour would vote against the reforms.

On social media, he said: “Labour just voted against extra funding for social care and front lines NHS services. Wow.”