'They rushed back from their Ball to vote away the hard earned savings of the poorest in our country.'
The Conservative Party’s lavish Winter Ball fundraiser saw wealthy donors pay large sums of cash for time with ministers, including £35,000 for an hour of cricket with chancellor Rishi Sunak and £22,000 for karaoke with foreign secretary Liz Truss, it has been reported.
Ministers and MPs then rushed back from the ball to the Commons where they voted for poorer homeowners to sell their homes for social care, in a move that’s been described as ‘sickening’.
Prime minister Boris Johnson has watered down his cap on care costs, with MPs passing a controversial amendment to England’s social care cap which will disproportionately hit poorer pensioners, despite a rebellion from backbenchers. Under the amendment, council contributions to care fees would not count towards the cap, meaning poorer people who get means-tested help would end up paying the same as richer people if they needed care for a significant amount of time.
Analysts say poorer homeowners will be left exposed to “catastrophic costs” including the need to sell their homes to fund care.
Auctioning off cricket and karaoke with ministers for tens of thousands of pounds while voting for poorer pensioners to sell their homes to pay for social care was met with widespread condemnation after the Sun’s Harry Cole made the revelations.
Kevin Maguire, the Daily Mirror’s associated editor wrote on Twitter: “Tory MPs rushed back from a Conservative Winter Ball fundraiser charging £35,000 for dinner (later confirmed to be cricket) with Sunak and £22,000 karaoke with Truss to vote for poorer homeowners to sell their homes for social care after paying tax rises.
“Welcome to Boris Johnson’s undercutting Britain.”
One social media user wrote: “I had to check that this was true (reader, it is). They rushed back from their Ball to vote away the hard earned savings of the poorest in our country.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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