Boris Johnson defends National Insurance rise despite households facing ‘unquestionably tough times’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended the rise in National Insurance, saying it is the “unquestionably right” thing to do to fund the NHS.

Johnson said the rise was necessary to enable the NHS to tackle the backlog of six million people waiting for procedures.

“Everybody across the country knows somebody who's waiting for cancer treatment or some sort of procedure... That's why we're taking the steps that we are today. I've got absolutely no problem with it, we've got to do the difficult things,” Johnson said.

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