Cameron’s announcement today grows more radical the more you study it. I was struck that he didn’t vow to protect health and education spending in 2010/11, as the party has in the past. In my “how to cut £40 billion” guide, my chief recommendation was freezing NHS spending to give the system time to digest the cash which Brown has force-fed it. Some chance, I thought – although it’s the best way to save money, Cameron wouldn’t have the cojones to face down the “health cuts” claim he’d get from Brown. But I seem to have underestimated him.
He’s done an interview for Channel Four News, being broadcast at 7pm, where Jon Snow asked if health spending was ringfenced he replied “We can’t guarantee anything, we don’t know the numbers”. In his pre-news “Snowmail” Snow says “For example, the growth in health spending projected for the next year or two is 4 per cent, and he indicated that this may be affected.
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