Miliband hits out at Tories over unfunded NHS pledge

Ed Miliband today hit out at the Conservatives over their announcement today that they would out an extra £8bn of funding into the NHS, while refusing to say how they would pay for it. At the launch of Labour’s health manifesto in Yorkshire today, Miliband said sent a message to David Cameron that “you can’t save the NHS if you don’t know where the money is coming from.”

He also accused the Tory leader of attempting to fund the NHS “with an IOU”.

Both Cameron and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt have today both refused to say specifically where the money for their pledge would come from, citing the tax revenue from a fall in unemployment.

Watch what Miliband had to say:

“We have seen five years of failure and broken promises from David Cameron on the NHS and now he expects the public to believe unfunded promises four weeks before an election. 

“Just in January he said, and I quote: ‘The real risk to the NHS was the risk of unfunded spending commitments bringing chaos to our economy, which would wreck our NHS.’

“The truth is you can’t save the NHS if you don’t know where the money is coming from.

“You can only damage the NHS when they are planning colossal cuts in public spending year after year after year.

“The choice is clear: a funded Labour plan for more doctors, nurses and midwives or unfunded promises from a Tory party that has a record of breaking its word.

“The bottom line is this: you can’t fund the NHS on an IOU.”