NHS - not new money, our economy is not in good health and the PM has lied (again). It’s a Brexit bung.

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Last week, I wrote about Dominic Raab’s false claims in his first week as Foreign Secretary, which culminated in both the BBC and Channel 4 fact-checking services proving that he had lied when he said the Brexiteers had frequently put the case for No Deal in the 2016 Referendum campaign. You can read the detail in my blog here. (This week, it appears he’s misrepresented the prospect of a quick Canadian trade deal too. The view from Canadian commentators:

“The British government wants a rollover deal to keep rules from the Canada-EU deal, but they have promised all countries low tariffs immediately after Brexit, so there’s no rush.”

Ouch).

This has been followed this week by the unprecedented spectacle of those same Channel 4 fact-checkers examining an official announcement on NHS spending made by the Prime Minister, shored up by the Government’s press machine, and finding that it was also … a lie. Here’s what happened:

  • On Sunday, Boris Johnson wrote an article in the Sunday Times in which he announced: “It is thanks to this country’s strong economic performance that we are now able to announce £1.8bn more for the NHS to buy vital new kit and confirm new upgrades for 20 hospitals across the country.”

  • By Sunday night, a senior analyst at the Independent, respected health think tank Nuffield Trust had already set out why this money was not new at all, nor was its availability due to the strength of the UK economy. £1bn of it was cash saved by hospitals which they were now being permitted to spend on capital projects.

  • On Monday, the Department of Health and Social Care’s press release referred to a “cash injection”, a “boost”, “extra” and “additional” money. But when Health Secretary Matt Hancock took to the airwaves, he struggled to rebut the challenges on the “newness” of the “new” money. The Kings Fund, another independent health think tank, also provided analysis to Radio 4 Today on the complexity of NHS funding, demonstrating again that - nope, the money wasn’t new at all.

  • Later in the day, Boris Johnson continued to insist in TV interviews that this was “new money”. Shortly afterwards, No. 10’s press office had to concede that their own boss might be telling porkies. But they still sent out a junior Minister to take the flak while trying to shore up the claim. By Monday evening, Channel 4’s Fact Checking service had done the definitive analysis. Its verdict: the “word “new” is doing a lot of work here”:

“The basic story is that the government has freed up this money by agreeing to stick to an earlier deal. We need to remember the overall financial picture too. The Health Foundation says the NHS has built up a maintenance backlog of at least £6bn after years of real-terms cuts to capital budgets.”

So, to recap: the £1.8bn is not new money, our economy is not in good health and the Prime Minister has lied. At best, his announcement is a sticking plaster for an NHS in critical condition; at worst, it covers up a Brexit bung, shiny new hospitals to distract from the No Deal catastrophe ahead.

The Lib Dems have always been clear and transparent about the need for new investment in the NHS and social care and how we should pay for it, just as we have been clear and unequivocal about our position on Brexit. You can’t trust the Tories on the NHS and you can’t trust this Government, from the Prime Minister through to the Foreign and Health Secretaries and junior Ministers to tell the truth on anything. It’s time to demand better.

Please join me and together we can start making things right, right here, in Esher and Walton.

NHS, Esher & WaltonMonica HardingEsher & Walton Lib DemsNHS