Sunday, October 15, 2006
Tory Talk
The NHS would be almost £10 billion worse off this year (or more than £1 million an hour) if the Tories had had their way. Current Tory attempts to champion the NHS should be treated with a healthy dose of scepticism.
Explanation
The extra money was raised through a specifically earmarked increase in National Insurance Contributions. This was contained in the National Insurance Contributions Bill 2002. The Tories opposed this increase.
House of Commons library estimates released recently (13th October 2006) are that this increase raised £7.2 billion in the first year (2003-4) rising to a projected £9.6 billion this year (2006-7). This is more than 10% of the total NHS budget in each case. This is money the NHS would not have had if the Tories had had their way.
Explanation
The extra money was raised through a specifically earmarked increase in National Insurance Contributions. This was contained in the National Insurance Contributions Bill 2002. The Tories opposed this increase.
House of Commons library estimates released recently (13th October 2006) are that this increase raised £7.2 billion in the first year (2003-4) rising to a projected £9.6 billion this year (2006-7). This is more than 10% of the total NHS budget in each case. This is money the NHS would not have had if the Tories had had their way.
# posted by John Beanse @ 7:16 PM 
