Theresa May appeared on the BBC’s Marr show on Sunday to talk about NHS funding and Brexit – claiming that her pledge of £20 billion in additional NHS cash was going to be funded, at least in part, by a ‘Brexit dividend’: the supposed saving the UK will make by not paying subs to the EU.
This is ‘magical thinking’ of the worst kind, as the Office for Budget Responsibility – the official government source – estimates that the UK will be £15 billion worse off.
But even if May could find that cash from some Brexit bonus, it would represent not only a serious cut in NHS resources compared to the historical average for annual NHS funding increases – but also a huge shortfall compared to the increases that serious sources say the NHS needs to stand still, let alone recover.
Marr has been widely lambasted for failing to challenge May directly on the fallacy of her funding source, although he did cover this in the studio with his guests to a degree – but to be fair to him he did challenge May about the inadequacy of her supposed boost in funding, before letting her move too easily to falsely blaming winter pressures and our elderly for daring to live longer.
Seen in context, May’s interview amounted to an admission that her plans – for all their dressing-up as some kind of rescue package – actually mean that the Tories plan to deepen the NHS crisis for at least the next five years:
Comment:
The NHS is still considered the nation’s greatest treasure by the vast majority of the public – but the misleading presentation of the causes of its crisis and of the Tories’ supposed support for our health service mean that we are like the frog that was boiled slowly and didn’t think to jump until it was too late.
Awareness is everything – because the Tories’ claims fall apart like a tissue-paper suit when examined properly.
But they won’t get that from mainstream media all too ready to let her put the blame elsewhere.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
A Brexit of any complexion will be a disaster for Britain, there will be NO Brexit dividend!
This last expose confirms that the Tories know that that they are underfunding the NHS, not because they are clever people and have worked it out themselves, but the two bodies mentioned IFS and the OBR (Office of Budget responsibility) would have informed her that her figures were wrong.
So there are no longer any excuses left that says they are properly funding not only our NHS but the rest of our public services.
The fall back position is always that there is no such thing as a money tree, except when Tories need to dig themselves out of a hole, then money just falls out of the sky.
What we should also not forget, is the Tories continual pledge to reduce taxation. So if as they say we need taxation to fund our public services, why have they over the last forty years and more reduced it at every opportunity? It is of course obvious that public services are not their priority, instead delivering tax cuts to the already rich is.
The neo-liberal agenda has used the rationing of money to privatise our public services, none of this chaos has happened by accident, all the
social gains achieved by people since the last war have been slowly eroded and handed over to the private sector, for absolutely no good other than the few profiting over the many.
Money is not a problem for us in this country, Neo-Liberal politicians of all political colours are. That is why Jeremy Corbyn has been smeared and attacked at an unprecedented level.
We have a fiat money system in this country, the same as Japan, the USA, Australia and Canada and unlike Europe, that treats each country like a household, our country does not have to earn its currency through trade, the Bank of England just issues it.
This little video explains it in detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB0bkytOdNQ&feature=youtu.be
So what’s scared her into this U-turn? Has there been a poll they’re not letting us in on?
Just watched her statement on the bbc news.
20Bn going to be paid for by the Brexit dividend which nobody believes in – and “increased taxes.”
Nothing about who’ll pay these extra taxes – but if there were going to be increases (and enforcement of existing taxes) for the rich and the corporations she’d have trumpeted it – so it’s us again as usual.