FIVE WAYS TO RAISE THE MONEY...

HERE are some of Boris Johnson’s options for finding the billions needed to transform social care.

Increase income tax – the most straightforward solution but with a big snag: the Tories’ 2019 manifesto pledged, ‘we will not raise the rate of income tax’.

A specific social care ‘levy’ on income, which has been discussed by No 10 and No 11 – that could let Ministers get around the letter of the manifesto pledge but perhaps not the spirit of it.

A new tax aimed just at the over-40s – this would be favoured by younger people but not with older voters who, of course, also tend to vote more.

Pensioner levies – raise the cash directly from those with the most immediate need for the care. Options could include asking them to pay more national insurance though that too could breach the manifesto tax vow.

Limit the person’s contribution at 30 per cent of their house’s value – but the Tories branded this idea a ‘death tax’ when similar proposals were suggested by Gordon Brown.