Harrogate district Conservative MPs back controversial social care plan

All three of the Harrogate district’s Conservative MPs voted for controversial new plans for social care in England last night.

The proposal, which will see people with less than £100,000 in assets pay towards the new social care cap, were supported by the House of Commons despite a Conservative backbench rebellion.

Some Tory MPs expressed concern that the move would hit the poorest hardest and 19 of them voted against the government.

However, Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Julian Smith, Skipton and Ripon MP and Nigel Adams, Selby and Ainsty MP which includes rural Harrogate, all voted with the government.

The bill was passed by 272 votes to 246.

The Stray Ferret has contacted the Harrogate district MPs for comment.

Health minister, Edward Argar, told the House of Commons last night that “no one would lose” from the reforms.

What is the government’s plan for social care?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government have tabled plans in an effort to fix the crisis in funding social care.

Under the proposals, there will be a cap of £86,000 which people will have to pay towards the cost of their own care. Once that threshold is met, the government will step in.

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The move would mean that those with £20,000 or less in assets would not have to pay anything towards things like washing or dressing at home.

Those with more than £100,000 will have to pay for everything up to the social care cap.

Meanwhile, those with less than £100,000 will have to pay for some of their care – but they can qualify for council support to help meet those costs.

Crucially, however, the support received from the local authority will not contribute towards the social care cap. Instead, that will have to be met from the person’s own income.

This has led to some Conservative MPs expressing concern that the poorest will be hit hardest by the change.

Harrogate buses are the best, says Transport Secretary Grant Shapps

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has held up Harrogate’s bus service as an example of what other places should aspire to.

The government published a national bus strategy yesterday.

Ministers say the strategy ‘will deliver better bus services for passengers across England, through ambitious and far-reaching reform of how services are planned and delivered’.

Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Shapps said successive governments had failed to invest sufficiently in buses, which carry twice as many passengers as trains. He added:

“Buses can and should also be the transport of choice, in my view.

“London, Brighton and Harrogate have already proved this, with frequent modern services and dedicated lanes attracting millions of journeys a year from the private car.

“We want to do that everywhere throughout the country, yet in most regions outside London services have been in decline for decades.”

The strategy praises the 36 bus that links Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds, which is run by the Harrogate Bus Company.

According to the document, it “offers a sophisticated and comfortable service which has transformed the passenger experience and encouraged people to make the switch to bus”.

The strategy also says bus operators and councils will have to negotiate agreements on how buses are run, which will require local authorities to take greater responsibility for bus services.

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The agreements must be reached by June 30 if buses are to receive further emergency funding from the covid bus services support grant.

Mr Shapps added:

“I can confidently predict that they will all be on board. Local authorities, in collaboration with operators, will then produce bus service improvement plans by the end of October this year.

“Future government financial support will depend on local authorities and operators coming together under an enhanced partnership or franchising agreement.

“For our part, we will work with councils to introduce bus priority schemes this year, and we will roll out marketing to attract millions of new passengers to the network—people who have never used buses before.”

Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon said:

“This strategy should have been used to revolutionise the bus industry, but I am afraid it lacks ambition and does not even touch the sides of the cuts and rocketing prices that passengers have witnessed over the past decade.”

MPs watch: litter picking and lost car keys

Every month the Stray Ferret has been trying to find out what our local MPs, Andrew Jones and Julian Smith, have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In June, the district began to emerge from lockdown so we wanted to know how active they have been during this critical period. We asked both Mr Jones and Mr Smith if they would like to highlight anything in particular, but we did not receive a response at the time of publication.

So here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough here is what we found on Mr Jones:

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon here is what we found on Mr Smith: