Boris Johnson bows to Tory pressure and waives NHS migrant surcharge

At PMQs this week, Keir Starmer went on the attack over the NHS surcharge which means workers coming to the UK from outside the European Economic Area have to pay a fee to use the health service. The current fee, of £400 a year, is due to rise to £624 from October. The Labour leader called on the Prime Minister to waive the charge for overseas NHS and social care workers.

In response, Johnson defended the charge and said that having thought about it ‘a great deal’, he had concluded funding had to be prioritised:

We must look at the realities – this is a great national service, it’s a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about £900 million, and it’s very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. So with great respect to the point [Sir Keir Starmer] makes, I do think that is the right way forward.

But with Starmer announcing that he would table an amendment to the Immigration Bill seeking to exempt NHS and care workers from the charge, a Tory rebellion is brewing. A handful