GPs and care providers may close because of National Insurance hike, warns South Cambridgeshire MP Pippa Heylings

Some GPs and care providers could be forced to close because of the National Insurance hike announced in the Budget, according to South Cambridgeshire’s MP.

Liberal Democrat Pippa Heylings has also voiced fears about the impact of the ‘family farm tax’ following the Chancellor’s decision to cut their inheritance tax relief.

Ms Heylings said that South Cambridgeshire’s GPs and care providers are already in crisis and forcing them and small care providers to pay more in NI contributions will add to their pressure.

While the government provided extra funding for the NHS and other public sector organisations to cover the cost of the tax rise, GP practices and the majority of care providers are privately run, so will not benefit. Charities – including those that run hospices – are not eligible for relief either and have expressed concerns over the impact.

Ms Heylings said: “When I speak to GPs and care providers in South Cambridgeshire, they tell me of the immense pressure that they are under following years of Conservative mismanagement.

“The decisions the Chancellor made at the Budget will push those crucial services to the brink. Some could even be forced to shut up shop.

“People must be able to access decent health and care services. To deliver this, the government must change course and exempt GPs and care providers here in South Cambridgeshire from the tax hike.”

The Chancellor has said the government had to “make a difficult set of decisions at the Budget”.

Meanwhile, the MP said 81 farms in South Cambridgeshire could be hit by the decision to cut inheritance tax relief for farms. The government has said 27 per cent of farms will be affected by the changes.

Ms Heylings said: “The government must scrap this disastrous family farm tax immediately or risk ringing the death knell for family farms in South Cambridgeshire.

“For years, our local farmers have been forced to endure botched trade deals and cuts to their incomes due to the Conservative Party’s shameful neglect of rural communities.

“The new government’s tax hike will come as yet another hammer blow for farmers.

“The Chancellor should urgently reverse course, scrap the family farm tax and take up the Liberal Democrat proposals to give farmers an additional £1billion a year in support.”

Answering a question in the Commons from the Conservatives on the subject, Cambridge’s Labour MP and environment minister Daniel Zeichner said farmers had told him “they were concerned about the way in which the system was being abused”.

He added: “I’m afraid this is a Budget that stands in its entirety, and the whole country needs stability, so it will stand.”

Former Conservative South Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne commented: “There is a simple way to stop the wealthy buying farmland to avoid inheritance tax, without harming family farms.”

He urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to increase the qualifying period for the exemption to 10 or 20 years, pointing out: “Few people plan that far ahead, and family farms will be unaffected.”