Peter Hoskin

The Lansley commitment

ConHome’s Tim Montgomerie – instrumental in getting the Cameroons to ditch their pledge to match overall Labour spending plans – has launched his most acerbic attack  yet on the Tories’ commitment to hefty real terms spending increases in health, as reiterated by Andrew Lansley on Today this morning. His points deserve repeating:

“There is indeed something incredible about the Conservative position on health spending.  It’s a leftover from George Osborne’s 2007 pledge to match all Labour spending.  It’s the wrong policy for at least three reasons;

— At a time when Britain’s debt mountain is causing international rating agencies to reconsider Britain’s credit status it is unaffordable.  Public sector spending is set to soar to 53.4% of national income according to the IEA.  FIFTY-THREE POINT FOUR PER CENT!  That’s more than in the aftermath of WWI. 

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in