Boris Johnson urges Theresa May to commit £5.2bn to NHS to defeat Jeremy Corbyn
2 min read
Boris Johnson has urged Theresa May to outflank Labour by committing to spend an extra £100m a week on the NHS after Brexit.
The Foreign Secretary reportedly believes this is an imperative policy for the Conservatives to adopt if they want to beat Labour at the next election.
An ally of Mr Johnson told The Telegraph: “Boris thinks that for the Tories to beat Corbyn it is fundamental that the government delivers on NHS funding and he will continue to make this argument until it happens.
“Every poll conducted shows the NHS is top of swing voter concerns and every expert says it needs more money - the Cabinet will have to act and the sooner the better.
“This isn't about the referendum, it's about listening to the public's priorities and beating Corbyn - colleagues should move on from the referendum debate and start to focus on the future.”
The NHS has suffered another winter crisis this year, with a combined 90,000 emergency patients stuck waiting for A&E care in an ambulance queue over a six-week period.
The Leave campaign came under fire for its claim the UK could spend £350m a week of EU budget contributions on the health service.
Earlier this week, Mr Johnson claimed the figure be bigger in an interview with the Guardian.
He argued that it would rise to £438million by 2020. “There was an error on the side of the bus,” Mr Johnson said. “We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control.”
Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, highlighted the Vote Leave pledge during a recent row with the Government over NHS funding. He said last year: “The NHS wasn’t on the ballot paper, but it was on the battle bus."
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