Priti Patel Lies 'live' on-air !!!

The Home Secretary, during a 'live' interview, told us all that a 'review' of the fees paid by foreign NHS workers would take place. No such 'review' has taken place and the fees remain in place !!!



Anger as Priti Patel says NHS fees paid by foreign health staff must stay, just three weeks after announcing ‘review’
Exclusive: Home Office admits there was no reassessment – despite home secretary promising it on national television


Priti Patel has sparked anger by refusing to cut or axe the huge fees paid by foreign healthcare workers to help fund the NHS – just three weeks after promising to “review” the controversial charges.

The home secretary raised expectations when she hinted at concessions for migrants working in the NHS themselves, as she praised their “extraordinary contribution” during the Covid-19 crisis.


But The Independent has now learnt there will be no changes to what ministers consider the “important” principle that everyone coming to work in the UK contributes extra for the NHS.

It means the immigration health surcharge is still due to soar from £400 a year to £624 from this October – to be and extended to all EU citizens from next January, when Brexit is completed.


Because it is also paid by spouses and children, the total cost can reach a crippling £8,000 for a family of four on a five-year work permit, or with limited leave to remain in the UK.

The Home Office is now saying there was no “review”, beyond waiving the surcharge where visas had been extended for one year – despite Ms Patel describing it as such on national television.


The British Medical Association (BMA) said the decision “beggars belief”, given the public’s “huge outpouring of support for our frontline staff” in recent weeks, while Labour called it “unconscionable”.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it had written to the home secretary after her announcement, but had received no reply, and insisted: “This charge must be stopped.”

Health groups had long protested the surcharge as unfair because migrants paying tax and national insurance are effectively paying twice, even before the acclaim for all health staff prompted by the pandemic.


It cannot be deferred, or paid annually, but is demanded in advance for the entire duration of an applicant’s visa or residency permit. Meanwhile, nurses and junior doctors in training have starting salaries of only between £18,000 and £23,000.

Around one in every seven NHS workers is foreign-born – a dependence that has attracted growing attention as they have been on the front line of the fight against coronavirus.

On 25 April, at the Downing Street press conference, Ms Patel appeared to bow to pressure, when she was asked if she would “scrap” fees for overseas NHS staff, “given they too are fighting this pandemic”.

She replied that it was “under review”, saying: “We are looking at everything, including visas and surcharge. We are speaking about the healthcare professionals, the medics, the doctors and nurses and allied healthcare professionals who have come to the UK.”


But the Home Office has told The Independent that no review took place beyond the arrangements for a one-year extension for health staff whose visas will expire before 1 October this year. “This is completely free of charge and includes an exemption from the immigration health surcharge,” a spokesperson said.

A RCN spokesperson said: “Nursing staff already contribute through taxes and national insurance. To ask them to pay twice is simply wrong. We await a response and commitment to act on this.”

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA council chair, said: “In the last two months, we’ve seen a huge outpouring of support for our frontline staff, including those talented colleagues who have come to work here from overseas.


“I’m sure they would be dismayed to find that the government is continuing to penalize them with this absurd fee during the crisis.”

And Justin Madders, Labour’s shadow health minister, said: “Ministers frequently tell us how proud they are of the incredible effort being made by NHS staff, yet when they have the opportunity to do something tangible to demonstrate their appreciation they pull the rug up.

“The NHS would fall over without overseas staff and in the current climate it is simply unconscionable for this government to be slapping extra charges on them.”

 

Boris and the scumbag 'nasty party' have been brought 'kicking and screaming' into a policy change that it should not have been necessary to fight over !!!

Johnson says he's been thinking about it. He's a lying bastard, because only last week during Prime Ministers Questions, when asked by Keir Starmer whether he would change the policy he declined to do so !!!


Johnson performs U-turn on fee for foreign health and care workers

PA
May 21st 2020 11:55AM
Overseas health and care staff will be exempted from the fee levied on migrants to pay for the NHS in a U-turn from Boris Johnson which came after mounting pressure from senior Tories.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister has asked officials at the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care to remove health and care workers from the surcharge "as soon as possible".

Full details will be announced in the coming days, a Number 10 spokesman said.
Mr Johnson "has been thinking about this a great deal" and as a "personal beneficiary of carers from abroad" he understands the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff, the spokesman said.

"The purpose of the NHS surcharge is to benefit the NHS, help to care for the sick and save lives.

I will support the nhs fee exemption for migrant nhs and care workers. Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. I am sure that @Conservatives colleagues will be supportive.

— William Wragg MP (@William_Wragg) May 20, 2020

"NHS and care workers from abroad who are granted visas are doing this already by the fantastic contribution which they make."

The £400 surcharge remains in place for other categories of visa applicants and will increase to £624 in October, as planned.

The change will apply to all NHS workers, ranging from medical health staff to vital porters and cleaners.

It also includes independent health workers and social care workers.

Boris Johnson is right to have u-turned and backed our proposal to remove the NHS charge for health professionals and care workers.

This is a victory for common decency and the right thing to do.

We cannot clap our carers one day and then charge them to use our NHS the next.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 21, 2020

The U-turn comes after senior Tories demanded change, with former party chairman Lord Patten calling it "appalling" and "monstrous".

Former Conservative Party vice-chairman Sir Roger Gale had warned Mr Johnson that not to waive the current surcharge "would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty".

After the policy shift, he said: "There will of course be those who will claim this as 'another U-turn'.

"Personally, I believe that politically courageous and sensible politicians have the ability to revisit positions and to put something right if it has gone wrong."

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee chairman William Wragg called for an immediate change in policy, adding "now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "Boris Johnson is right to have U-turned and backed our proposal to remove the NHS charge for health professionals and care workers.

"This is a victory for common decency and the right thing to do. We cannot clap our carers one day and then charge them to use our NHS the next."

The U-turn came hours after Downing St insisted the PM was standing by the surcharge.

It also came a day after another U-turn when the Government extended a scheme offering indefinite leave to remain to the families of all NHS staff who die as a result of contracting coronavirus.

Care workers, cleaners and porters had originally been left out of the scheme, which only applied to certain occupations including nurses, biochemists and radiographers.