Theresa May has refused to say which taxes will rise to pay for her £20bn a year NHS boost, amid a storm of criticism over her claim of a “Brexit dividend” to part fund it. Pressed on her admission that tax hikes will be needed, the prime minister gave no details, saying only that “we will be contributing more as a country”.
Meanwhile, independent experts and a senior Tory MP dismissed Ms May’s claim – echoing the much-derided Leave campaign – that the government would have extra cash from leaving the EU. By increasing NHS funds Theresa May will be looking to save herself.
“Don’t even begin to swallow any rubbish that this will be some Brexit bonanza,” tweeted Sarah Wollaston, the Tory chair of the Commons Health Committee. "In reality the tax rises & borrowing will need to be higher as a result.”
Paul Johnson, the head of the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said the government had accepted that Brexit would swipe £15bn a year from revenues – or £300m a week. Furthermore, the “divorce bill”, plus commitments to replace Brussels funding in key areas, would swallow up all of the returning EU contributions until 2022. “There is no Brexit dividend,” Mr Johnson said.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-funding-latest-20-billion-theresa-may-tax-rises-brexit-dividend-a8402951.html