Philip Hammond put aside more money for Brexit than the NHS in the 2017 Budget in a reversal of the promises outlined during the referendum campaign.
The Chancellor said £3 billion would be spent on Brexit planning, while just £2.8 billion will go to the NHS.
In a deeply ironic twist the NHS now has just £350 million to see it through the winter, rather than the £350 million a week it was promised by the Leave campaign.
Earlier this month NHS boss Simon Stevens demanded that the promises on the “Brexit bus” should be honoured to the British public, saying “the NHS wasn’t on the ballot paper, but it was on the Battle Bus.”
But instead the money has been diverted to transitioning Britain out of the Union.
In the budget Philip Hammond pledged and extra £2.8 billion in “exceptional” one-off funding for the health service to cope with immediate pressures up to 2020, the bulk of which will be delivered in 2018/19.
This will be broken down into £350m this year, which will be available immediately “to help NHS trusts plan for winter”, £1.6bn for 2018/19, and the rest in 2019/20.
Meanwhile £3 billion will be set aside for Brexit preparations over the next two years to allow for “every possible outcome”.
Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth recently warned that the NHS urgently needs a £500 million NHS bailout to get through the winter.
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “We’ve had no clear explanation from Jeremy Hunt and Theresa May about how the NHS will be prepared this winter.
“We are hearing that we could have a serious flu outbreak this winter.
“So if the government have robust plans, we need them to come forward.”
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