National Health Service Funding – the £84 Billion Lie
The Tories are telling lies about the funding increase to the National Health Service.
Philip Hammond is again playing fast and loose with the truth. Double counting, or quadruple counting in this case, is not normal practice for a government, or anyone else. The health budget for NHS England (other parts of the NHS are funded separately) is about £110 billion so an increase of £84 billion seems really impressive. But, the truth is much less impressive.
Through inflation the NHS spending will rise to £135 billion by 2023/24, that is £20.5 billion and that was announced by the government before the budget. It is also where we start looking for this mistical £84 billion.
Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics and Damned Tory Statistics.
The origin of the £84 billion “increase” in NHS funding is convoluted to say the least. Each year the money spent on health goes up by an estimated inflation figure of between 3.1% and 3.6%. Add each year’s increase together, throw in the inflation increases for the Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales plus a £1.25 billion a year for National Health Service pension contributions and there you have it £84 billiuon.
Or, as the less than straightforward Chancellor said on 1st October;
“We’ve announced an unprecedented £84 billion real-terms funding boost for the NHS, what the NHS says it needs”.
Philip Hammond MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Philip Hammond, not averse to making outlandish claims
Do you remember another time Philip Hammond made a rather outlandish claim? Not about National Health Service Funding this time this is the time he claimed that unemployed people are a figment of our imagination!
Would a privatised National Health Service work? See this post for my view.
Don’t just take my word for it read this from fullfact.org.
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
