UK will not delay introduction of tax increase to fund health care

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government has no plans to delay tax increases to try to fix a health and social care funding crisis, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday, after some in the governing Conservative Party criticised their timing.

Asked if the government would delay the introduction of the increases, the spokesman told reporters: "There are no plans to do that."

"This money ... will in the first instance go towards tackling that backlog (in the National Health Service). That's what the public want to see, that's their priority and that's what we will deliver on," he said. "In the longer term, it will also tackle another fundamental issue, which has been left aside for too long ... the unfairness in our current social care system."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Alistair Smout)