Where does Labour really stand on a “Health Tax”?

The front page of today’s FT suggests that the Labour leadership is considering a “Health Tax” as a means of paying for the NHS, reporting(£):

“Ed Miliband is to put the NHS at the centre of Labour’s election campaign and is considering an earmarked “health tax” or exempting the health service from deficit reduction to prove that he can deliver a better service.

Mr Miliband believes the NHS is rising up the list of voters’ concerns but wants to offer a single big policy to prove to voters that Labour will be a better custodian of its future than the Conservatives.

The Labour leader is looking at excluding the NHS from Labour’s planned deficit cuts by designating borrowing specifically for the health service”

That’s a rumour that has been doing the rounds for a while now, and has been reported elsewhere earlier this summer. Ed Balls moved earlier this month to pour cold water on such a plan, yet it seems the debate isn’t entirely dead inside the party if today’s FT is anything to go by. It seems to be this summer’s Labour rumour that won’t die.

A Labour source told me this morning that the report was “poorly-sourced speculation without foundation”, but whilst that’s a fairly firm response, it’s not an outright denial.

A clearer Labour position on NHS spending is likely to emerge in the coming weeks before or during conference – but it seems that position is yet to be fully thrashed out, and some people may have begun to brief the media in an attempt to get their own way…