Watch live as Boris Johnson holds news conference on social care reform

Boris Johnson is addressing the nation and confirming, again, a 1.25 per cent National Insurance (NI) hike to rescue the NHS and pay for social care reforms

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister admitted “waiting lists will get worse before they get better” but that the government was doing “what should have been done a very long time ago”.

Earlier, Mr Johnson told MPs that the new levy would pump £12bn into the UK’s health service to help deal with the case backlog caused by the pandemic.