What do I want from the budget, I was asked. So I had a think. One plea was for no more pasty taxes, which I argued distracted from the more serious changes that would actually affect most people. So Osborne decided to cut the Bingo Tax, and we ended up with #bingogate. Someone obviously hadn’t been paying attention at the back. But among what I like to think of as the more serious requests to the Chancellor, I suggested the implementation of a charge of, say, £10, each time a person missed an NHS appointment.
The Chancellor didn’t listen to me then, either. (Well, to be fair, why should he?) But I see that a think tank has released a study, co-authored by former Labour health minister Lord Warner, which recommends charging a £10 monthly fee for use of the NHS.
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