Streeting: There could be greater rises in NHS spending ‘if conditions allow’

Wes Streeting has said there could be greater increases in spending on the NHS than set out in Labour’s manifesto “if the conditions allow” after an analysis concluded that its plans would see lower increases in funding than during the austerity years.

According to the Nuffield Trust, a leading health think tank, Labour’s plans suggest average real-terms annual increases of 1.1% in health spending, compared to a 1.4% real-terms increase per year between 2010/11 and 2014/15.

READ MORE: Labour manifesto 2024: What are the party’s NHS and health policies?

Asked about the Nuffield Trust’s conclusions on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme, Streeting said: “Firstly, our manifesto is fully costed, fully funded with promises we can keep and the country can afford.

“Secondly, where I disagree with the Nuffield Trust, is the assumption they’re making that this manifesto is the grand sum total of any future budgets and any future spending reviews. That’s just wrong. That’s not the way election campaigns work.”

Asked whether there could be greater spending increases for the NHS than set out in the manifesto, Streeting said: “In the manifesto, you spell out your promises and you spell out how you’re going to pay for them.

“And at the heart of Labour’s manifesto… is a brutal honesty about the fact that the public finances are in a real mess and worst still, family finances are too.”

READ MORE: Socialist Health Association warns Labour under-funding risks NHS ‘decline’

Pressed on the potential for greater spending increases, the Shadow Health Secretary said: “If the conditions allow, but only if the conditions allow because we’re not going to make promises that we can’t keep and we’re not going to make promises the country can’t afford. And that’s the challenge at this election.

“What we can’t do now is what the last Labour government did, which is to say we’re going to put a penny on National Insurance, because we know viscerally that families can’t afford it because they’re already paying a very heavy price.

“The highest tax burden in 70 years thanks to the Conservatives. So we are making hard choices, we make no apology for that.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Streeting said “we would like to go further on so many fronts”, adding: “But we are dealing with a fundamentally weak economy and public finances that are an absolute state.

“And I just warn people, against this backdrop of breathtaking complacency in the media about the opinion polls, do not give the matches back to the arsonist to finish the job.”

READ MORE: ‘The Labour manifesto’s health policies demonstrate little-noticed radicalism’

Asked about the Nuffield Trust’s analysis, a Labour spokesperson told The Observer the party would “deliver the investment and reform the NHS needs”.

They added: “Our £2bn investment will deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week on evenings and weekends, double the number of scanners, 700,000 extra emergency dental appointments, 8,500 more mental health professionals and mental health support in every school and community.

“We’ll pay for it by clamping down on tax dodgers, because working people can’t afford another tax rise.”

Labour affiliate the Socialist Health Association (SHA) warned following the publication of the manifesto that the party’s caution on tax hikes and borrowing “condemns the NHS to continued fragmentation and decline”.

The SHA also voiced concerns about a ‘lack of detail’ in the manifesto on health, but praised some aspects of the policy document.

Find out more through our wider 2024 Labour party manifesto coverage so far…

OVERVIEW:

Manifesto launch: Highlights, reaction and analysis as it happened

Full manifesto costs breakdown – and how tax and borrowing fund it

The key manifesto policy priorities in brief

Manifesto NHS and health policies – at a glance

Manifesto housing policy – at a glance

Manifesto Palestine policy – at a glance

Manifesto immigration policies – at a glance

ANALYSIS AND REACTION:

‘The manifesto’s not perfect, but at the launch you could feel change is coming’

 IPPR: ‘Labour’s manifesto is more ambitious than the Ming vase strategy suggests’

‘Victory will be short-lived unless Labour fixes broken services with proper funding and public ownership’

Socialist Health Association warns Labour under-funding risks NHS ‘decline’

 ‘The manifesto shows a new centrism, with the state key driving growth’

 Fabians: ‘This a substantial core offer, not the limit of Labour ambition’

 ‘No surprises, but fear not: Labour manifesto is the start, not the end’

 ‘What GB energy will do and why we desperately need it’

 ‘Labour’s health policies show a little-noticed radicalism’

 GMB calls manifesto ‘vision of hope’ but Unite says ‘not enough’

 IFS: Manifesto doesn’t raise enough cash to fund ‘genuine change’

 Watch as Starmer heckled by protestor with ‘youth deserve better’ banner

POLICY NEWS:

 Labour vows to protect green belt despite housebuilding drive

 Manifesto commits to Brexit and being ‘confident’ outside EU

 Labour to legislate on New Deal within 100 days – key policies breakdown 

 Labour to give 16-year-olds right to vote

Starmer says ‘manifesto for wealth creation’ will kickstart growth

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

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