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| Labour's new election poster |
Following the Budget Labour is also publishing new analysis of Tory spending plans which takes into account their planned welfare reductions and promised tax cuts. This analysis shows that in the next three years the Tories are planning cuts to public services which are deeper than any year of the last parliament; and in the next three years cuts to public services will be almost twice the level of the last three years. The cuts to public services like police, defence and social care under these plans would be so deep they’d be almost impossible to achieve and so people will conclude that to make their sums add up the Tories will end up cutting our NHS. OECD countries which have cut public spending at the pace which George Osborne plans ended up cutting health spending. If equivalent cuts to health spending were imposed on the UK, this could mean £7 billion being cut from the NHS.
Commenting at the poster launch Ed Balls said: "George Osborne’s Budget set out plans for deeper and more extreme spending cuts after the election. These plans go beyond simply balancing the books. They would mean deeper spending cuts in the next three years than the last five years. In 2018 spending on day-to-day public services as a share of national income will be at its lowest level since 1938. The cuts to public services like police, defence and social care under these plans would be so deep they’d be almost impossible to achieve. People will conclude that to make their sums add up the Tories will end up cutting our NHS."
Continuing Mr Balls said: "OECD countries which have cut public spending at the pace which George Osborne plans ended up cutting health spending. If equivalent cuts to health spending were imposed on the UK, this could mean £7 billion being cut from the NHS. This would have a disastrous impact on services and staffing levels. Britain needs a better plan. Labour will get the deficit down in a more sensible and balanced way. And we have a fully-funded plan to save our NHS and transform it for the future. Labour’s plan means 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and cancer tests guaranteed within one week. And we’ll pay for it by closing tax loopholes and a mansion tax on properties worth over £2 million."
"After five years of David Cameron, our health service is going backwards. Our NHS just can’t afford these extreme and risky Tory cuts. And after their broken promises on the NHS in this Parliament nobody will trust what the Tories say about the NHS." Ed Balls added.
Also commenting Andy Burnham said: "The Tories are completely silent on the NHS. They had nothing to offer it in the Budget and are desperate not to talk about it during the election campaign. The OBR has predicted a rollercoaster ride for public services in the next Parliament under these Budget plans. The trouble is, the NHS is in no fit state to go on a white-knuckle ride. After five years of David Cameron, the NHS is heading downhill. He’s broken every promise he made on the NHS and Tory care cuts in this Parliament have caused the A&E crisis. Even deeper care cuts in the next will throw the whole of the NHS into crisis."
"It is clear that the NHS as we know it can’t survive five more years of the Tories." Mr Burnham added.
