The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has slapped down an expected demand from Boris Johnson for a post-Brexit cash boost for the NHS. Johnson was hoping for a £5 billion NHS “Brexit dividend.”
The Chancellor reminded Boris he is the Foreign Secretary, without responsibility for health spending, as he arrived for a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels on today.
Mr Hammond said: “Mr Johnson is the Foreign Secretary.
“I gave the Health Secretary an extra £6bn at the recent Budget and we’ll look at departmental allocations again at the spending review when that takes place.”
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, has accused Boris Johnson of using the NHS just to advance his own standing in the Conservative party, telling the BBC: “He’s calling for an extra £5bn. It’s just Boris Johnson playing games, isn’t it? He’s weaponising the NHS, if you like, for his own internal Tory party games.
“He’s calling for an extra £5bn for the NHS. That’s actually what we’ve been calling for. But where’s he been these last two years? We had a budget last autumn where the Tory government completely failed to give the NHS the funding it needs. Where was he ahead of that budget?
“I’m afraid this is all about Boris Johnson. He’s not really concerned about those patients waiting on trolleys in corridors and those elderly people in the backs of ambulances in the freezing cold waiting to be treated. It’s just about Boris Johnson’s tedious political games.”
Tory MP Anna Soubry tweeted “PM shld have sacked #BorisJohnson for longstanding incompetence & disloyalty. Unless TM acts now Boris will bring her down #Godhelpus”
NHS Crisis – No bed for five hours for diabetic mother who had just given birth
Jeremy Hunt tries to claim Tories created NHS – Jon Ashworth calls him out
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
