Debunked: Labour’s NHS Privatisation Claims
Labour keep telling scare stories about our plans for the NHS. Now, it is time to set the record straight.
Why is Labour scaremongering?
The only reason Corbyn’s Labour are scaremongering like this is to try to distract from their chaotic and muddled position on Brexit.
Clearly Labour don’t want to talk about Brexit because they don’t have anything to say. Instead they have decided to spread lies and score political points, scaring the most vulnerable in our society – the very people they claim to represent.
Labour also want to a force a four day working week on the NHS, which would cost it billions every year and roundly criticised by experts as unworkable and would drive down hospital standards.
Here are the facts:
- The Prime Minister has said that under no circumstances would we agree to any free trade deal that put the NHS on the table.
- The NHS is not being privatised. This is just scaremongering from Labour. There has been no increase in NHS privatisation and there won’t be under a Conservative government.
- Corbyn’s claim that the trade negotiations with the US are ‘at a very advanced stage’ is completely untrue. The UK is still in the EU’s Customs Union, which means it can’t formally agree independent trade deals yet. The Government has made clear that negotiations with the US will begin after the UK leaves the EU.
- The Government has been clear that the preliminary conversations between the US and UK, which these papers cover, are just to ensure that ‘both sides are well prepared to open trade negotiations after the UK leaves the EU’.
Our plans to strengthen the NHS
Our great new deal will allow us to get Brexit done immediately so we can focus on our other priorities, like the NHS. Our plans include:
- We will be investing an additional £33.9 billion in frontline NHS services every year by 2023-24, the largest and longest funding settlement in the history of the NHS, with an initial £6.2 billion increase this year.
- By 2025 we will recruit 6,000 more GPs, 6,000 more primary care professionals, as well as 50,000 more nurses. This will allow more people to access care and reduce patients waiting times.
- We will be building 40 new hospitals and upgrading 20 more, ensuring extra funding for the NHS goes straight to the front line. We are providing £1.8 billion for 20 hospital upgrades and 300 new MRI and CT scanners, as well as £2.7 billion for 6 new hospitals and seed funding for up to 38 more to be built.