FALMOUTH and Truro MP Cherilyn Mackrory has said she will back the government on the proposed National Insurance hike to improve social care this evening, despite it breaking a Tory manifesto pledge.

Mrs Mackrory told BBC Radio Cornwall that she had been mulling over her decision on the 1.25% increase but after hearing more of the details of the plan from the Prime Minister Boris Johnson she had decided to back it.

"This story has been coming out over the weekend," she said "and we had very sketchy details about what we were actually going to do with the money. The Prime Minister was on his feet yesterday. I was in the chamber I saw him speak and he expanded on that an awful lot. He told us what we would be doing with the money. I can understand why people are questioning it but anyone who questions it is underestimating the scale of the problem we face."

She said there was a plan coming for where the money was going, to ensure it just wasn't swallowed up by the NHS. She said the plan will kick in in October 2023 but before then some of this money will be going to social care

She also told the BBC that the government had exceeded the £350m promised for the NHS during the Brexit campaign on the side of the Brexit battle bus.

"It has exceeded that with 400m a week," she said. "Since Covid started we have had over £470 billion pounds go into the NHS. These sound like just figures but when you drill down to how much money this is there is so much money in the NHS at the moment.

"I spoken to people who work and manage at Treliske and they never actually criticise the money they get from the Government. This is not a money issue. It is a crisis issue one that has been compounded by a pandemic.

"The tax is not money for day to day running it's for the extra money needed because of the crisis."

She said the problem with social care is worse in Cornwall and other holiday areas because people can earn more money in the hospitality industry than they do in care.

Labour have accused the Conservatives of breaking their manifesto promise of not raising taxes and say the tax will hit younger and poorer people hardest.

Cornwall Labour leader Jayne Kirkham said the social care reform plan itself still seems very hazy and unformed and unlikely to be announced until Christmas with a health and social care integration white paper.

"Apart from the fact that National Insurance is completely the wrong tax to raise, because it hits younger, poorer working people the hardest, there are no details about the ‘plan’ other than it will direct the money for the first three years towards the NHS," she said.

"Whilst the NHS desperately does need more money, social care is funded via councils and it is here that the blockage occurs. We can’t get people out of hospital because the home care is not available. If the Prime Minister wants to solve this, he should look into the detail of the problem and the source of the issue – why care isn’t available and how to fix that. The lack of carers, probably due to low wages and lack of career progression and the piecemeal privatised way social care is provided for a start.

"Far from oven ready, this plan is half baked."