Burnham: the SNP are misleading Scottish people on the NHS

On Monday, Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond promised that in an independent Scotland, the NHS would be protected from cuts and privatisation.

However, Andy Burnham, Shadow Secretary for Health has said that by making such pledges, Salmond is confusing the debate over independence and misleading people in Scotland:

“If Salmond seriously cared about the NHS he would be explaining how he could possibly afford to fund it properly after a yes vote – with the £6 billion cuts to public services which the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies say would come over and above what George Osborne is planning. That is the equivalent of half of all that Scotland spends on the NHS.”

Burnham has also said that Salmond entirely ignores the fact that Labour will “fight any attempt by the Tories to privatise the NHS – but so will the vast majority of people in England” (a point proven by the People’s March for the NHS).

He goes on to explain that Salmond is trying to “mislead Scotland” because, he says:

“Alex Salmond’s plans to separate Scotland from the United Kingdom is the greatest threat to the NHS in Scotland. He has a black hole of more than £6 billion. That will mean cuts to public services and tax rises. And it will disrupt long-standing arrangements where Scotland is part of the system of finding donor organs throughout the UK, of access to specialist treatment in the rest of the country and getting millions of pounds worth of funding for medical research. If you really want to keep the NHS in public hands, free at the point of need, then you need to vote no. A yes vote is a vote for cuts to the NHS and an uncertain future for the health services we all need and prize so much.”