Expert warns Labour will leave NHS worse off than under Tory austerity
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has urged people in Scotland to vote SNP to protect our NHS from Labour Party cuts, amid warnings that Keir Starmer’s Labour would leave the NHS with lower spending increases than during the worst years of Tory austerity spending cuts.
This warning also followed an admission from Labour’s health spokesperson Wes Streeting that they will deliver no new money for social care.
Labour and Tory spending plans mean more austerity
A report by respected healthcare analysts Nuffield Trust, published in the Observer, reveals that the NHS policies outlined by Keir Starmer in Labour’s manifesto would leave the Westminster government struggling to pay existing staff costs – let alone planned increases in the NHS long-term workforce plan agreed last year.
🔎 lndependent experts from the Nuffield Trust reveal that Labour plans for the NHS would leave it even worse off than under the recent period of Tory austerity.
🏴 #VoteSNP to reject more Labour austerity and protect our NHS. pic.twitter.com/KqHMgZMBRt
— The SNP (@theSNP) June 20, 2024
The Nuffield Trust said that “the manifestos imply increases [in annual funding for the NHS] between 2024-25 and 2028-29 of 0.9% [a year] for the Conservatives and 1.1% for Labour. Both Conservative and Labour proposals would represent a lower level of funding increase than the period of ‘austerity’ between 2010-11 and 2014-15.”
Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust said: “This would be an unprecedented slowdown in NHS finances, and it is inconceivable that it would accompany the dramatic recovery all are promising. This slowdown follows three years of particularly constrained finances… it would make the next few years the tightest period of funding in NHS history.”
These reports come amid repeated warnings from a slew of independent expert organisations – including the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Institute for Government (IFG), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Resolution Foundation – that the Labour Party plans £18billion of cuts to public services.
🗳️ Vote SNP on July 4th for a hopeful and optimistic alternative:
👩⚕️ Protecting Scotland's NHS.
💷 Re-joining the EU single market.
❌ Standing up against austerity.🥀Whereas the Labour Party offer more austerity with around £18 billion of Tory-style public service cuts. pic.twitter.com/ZzTz6u6qUm
— The SNP (@theSNP) June 17, 2024
Only the SNP can be trusted to stand up to austerity and protect our NHS
It’s increasingly clear the Labour Party and the Tories are both a threat to Scotland’s NHS – showing why it’s vital to vote SNP to protect our NHS from Labour Party cuts and put Scotland’s interests first.
Scotland has already suffered the consequences of 14 years of Tory cuts, Brexit, and a cost-of-living crisis.
The last thing our NHS needs now is even more cuts, Brexit and creeping privatisation imposed by Sir Keir Starmer’s incoming Westminster government.
Unlike Labour, the SNP will always stand up for Scotland and our NHS. Every SNP MP elected will oppose NHS cuts, demand proper funding and defend the NHS against privatisation – including through our Keep the NHS in Public Hands bill.
On 4th July, vote SNP to safeguard public services and secure a future made in Scotland – for Scotland.
Unlike Labour, the SNP will always stand up for Scotland and our NHS.John Swinney
