The health secretary has been told to find £1.5bn of savings to fund the NHS pay rise, despite criticism that it will mean cuts to other services.
The chaotic announcement of the 3 per cent boost for 1 million workers prompted suspicions of a battle between the Treasury and the health department over who pays the bill.
In the Commons, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt demanded a commitment that the £1.5bn cost would not mean “cuts” to wider health or care spending.
But Boris Johnson’s spokesman said, shortly afterwards: “The pay uplift will be funded from within the NHS budget.”
He claimed the move would “not impact funding already earmarked for the NHS frontline”, but it was unclear how that could be avoided if savings are required.
Before he was forced to quit for breaking Covid rules, the former health secretary Matt Hancock insisted a 1 per cent rise was all his department could ‘afford”.
Mr Hunt, now the chair of the Commons health committee, also warned against diverting cash from the care sector, fearing it “once again loses out because of pressures in the NHS”.
Mr Zahawi also came under fire over the plan for “vaccine passports” to enter crowded venues, starting with nightclubs from the end of September.
The minister triggered suspicions that the government might swerve a vote it is in danger of losing, by saying: “We reserve the right to mandate its use in the future.”
But, under pressure from MPs on all sides demanding a vote first, Mr Zahawi conceded Parliament would have an “appropriate say on the matter”.
The minister also lifted the lid on other “crowded venues” that might be included, if the crackdown goes ahead as threatened.
He namechecked “music venues”, “business events and festivals” and “spectator sport events” – with the Premier League already known to be considering the move.
“We’ve seen in other countries, whether it’s in Holland or in Italy, the opening of nightclubs and then having to reverse that decision rapidly,” he told MPs.
“So what we’re attempting to do – the reason we have the Covid vaccination pass in place – is to work with industry in this period, whilst we give people over the age of 18 the chance to become double-vaccinated.”
However, many believe it is a phantom threat, to browbeat young people to accept vaccination by September – as Mr Johnson allegedly acknowledged in a private briefing with Tory MPs
Mr Zahawi also came under fierce pressure to bring forward the 16 August date for exempting the double vaccinated from isolation rules, if identified as a close contact of a Covid case.
Mr Hunt urged the government to “listen to public opinion and scrap the 10-day isolation requirement immediately”, provided those people tested negative for Covid with a lab test.
“Otherwise we risk losing social consent for this very, very important weapon against the virus,” he warned Mr Zahawi.
But the minister said accelerating the change would “run the risk of infection rates running away with us”, over the next few weeks.
