A days of ups and downs. The former was the PM's acceptance of a visit to Weymouth when responding to my question at PMQs, the down was the Government's NI tax hike, which I believe will bite us in the ass! The former can be seen on the website, while the latter was debated for about seven hours, with MPs voting 319 to 248 in favour of a 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance for workers and employers to help fund health and social care. Mr Johnson hoped the tax increase, which breaks a Conservative manifesto pledge, would raise £12 billion a year. The PM said his plan would deal with "catastrophic costs" faced by those who need care. But MPs raised concerns that people could still have to sell their home in order to pay for the help they need, something the new policy was meant to prevent. During the debate, I and other Conservative MPs raised objections to the proposals. My speech is on the website. This was a deeply unsettling day for Conservatism and I do not like this lurch to the Left. Throwing money into black holes is not our way to resolve issues. I abstained in order to give the Government time to better explain itself. I fear there won't be much they can tell me to prevent me from voting against the Bill when it comes to the House. Finally, the Home Secretary was expected to hold talks with her French counterpart about the number of migrants crossing the English Channel to the UK. Priti Patel and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin were both due to attend a meeting of G7 ministers in London. She has warned that Britain could withhold £54.2 million it had promised to pay France to help deal with the problem, unless more boats are intercepted. The Home Office said 785 people crossed the channel in small boats on Monday.