Boris Johnson has won a vote in Parliament to raise taxes in the UK, starting with National Insurance. Next year, Tories will boost the rate by 1.25 percent in a bid to fuel the UK’s run-down social care sector, breaking a promise the party made in its 2019 manifesto. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has claimed the UK, at least before now, is a “low tax country” while muddying the water on where the money from the new levy will go.

Speaking to BBC’s Today programme, he compared the UK’s tax rate to others in Europe.

Mr Javid said the UK’s total tax burden “as a proportion of our GDP” sits at around 35.5 percent.

He argued the amount is “still lower than France, Italy and Germany”.

And the Health Secretary added Britons would still live in a low tax country “after this change”.

READ MORE: Tory MPs bottle it: National Insurance rise flies through Commons

Before the increase, the share in tax was the highest since the 1960s.

Mr Johnson has now pushed the tax burden to its highest level since 1950.

He has refused to rule out further tax increases, and previous plans could push the UK over the OECD average by 2026.

The March Budget revealed the Prime Minister’s Government would raise the tax burden to 35 percent, and the new National Insurance levy would push this to 35.5 percent.