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Government defends fees for overseas NHS staff despite Tory criticism
May 21, 2020
The government has defended charging overseas health workers to use the NHS, despite criticism from its own party.
The health immigration surcharge on non-EU migrants is £400 per year and set to rise to £624 in October.
Some Tory MPs have called for NHS and care workers to be exempt as a way of saying "thank you" for their work during the coronavirus outbreak.
But the PM's spokesman said the money "goes directly back into the NHS to help save lives".
Labour are seeking an amendment to the Immigration Bill to exempt NHS staff from the surcharge, including cleaners and care professionals.
The party's leader, Sir Keir Starmer, tweeted it was "grossly hypocritical to clap our carers one day and then charge them to use the NHS the next".
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Asked about the charge at Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions, Boris Johnson said he "understood the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff", but said the government "must look at the realities" of funding the NHS.
However, the Tory chairman of the Commons public administration select committee, William Wragg, said in a tweet it was the time for a "generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good".
He was backed up by fellow Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, who also tweeted his support for the exemption, saying it would be "mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty" to keep it in place.
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