Sturgeon ‘meddling’ in English affairs
SNP leader under fire for demanding higher health spend throughout Britain to boost Scottish budget
NICOLA STURGEON has been accused of trying to “meddle” in Westminster politics by demanding that the Government spends more cash on hospitals south of the border.
The Scottish National Party’s manifesto, which was published yesterday, included a pledge to boost the health budget in Scotland by up to an extra £1 billion, despite health spending being devolved to Edinburgh.
Ms Sturgeon, the SNP leader, said that her demand for a rise in health spending would – if accepted by the UK Government – mean a 7 per cent rise in NHS spending in England.
Unveiling the plans, Ms Sturgeon said: “We already have a pledge to increase the NHS budget by £2billion by the end of this Scottish Parliament.
“But our alternative plan for the public finances would allow a further increase in frontline health spending across the UK. SNP MPS will call on the new UK government to increase health spending per head of population in England to the current Scottish level, which is 7 per cent higher. That would increase the health budget in England by £11 billion more than inflation by 2022 and it would deliver consequential funding to support additional investment in Scotland’s NHS of up to £1billion over and above our current commitment.”
The party’s manifesto said its plans to increase the budget for NHS Scotland would allow the Government to raise health spending in England.
It said: “We are already committed to increasing the budget of NHS Scotland by £2billion by the end of the current Scottish Parliament.
“Our plan to end austerity would enable the UK government to increase investment in the NHS far beyond current plans.
“We will continue to call for increased health spending, passing on all health revenue consequentials in full for healthcare in Scotland.
“SNP MPS will also vote against any further privatisation of the NHS in England and back any moves to restore it to a fully public service.”
Jacob Rees-mogg, who is standing to be a Conservative MP in Somerset, said: “It is a devolved matter and Ms Sturgeon can raise her own taxes to spend more on the health service if she wants to.
“It is unreasonable for her to expect England to bail out her failing Government. As she wants to separate Scotland from England she should not meddle outside her own fiefdom.”
Last December experts said spending in Scotland in 2017/18 will be £800 million more due to the generosity of the UK’S Barnett formula.
The news came as Ms Sturgeon quietly dropped her demand for a second independence referendum by spring 2019 as she signalled a major retreat in the face of a fierce public backlash against her plans.
The First Minister announced she was now willing to delay another independence vote until the end of the “Brexit process”, which could take many years if a proposed transitional deal between the UK and EU is taken into account.
Ms Sturgeon said she would reconsider her original plan to allow Scots to make a “genuinely informed choice about the future of our country”.
The First Minister originally insisted the vote should take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 but the manifesto document made no mention of these dates. Instead, she attempted to give herself maximum flexibility by stating that it would be held “when the time is right and the options are clear”.
Her retreat followed a launch speech in which she barely mentioned independence and attempted to woo Labour supporters by promising to oppose austerity and the Tories.
A series of opinion polls showed Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives are on course to win a swathe of Snp-held seats thanks to their strong anti-referendum message. The Nationalists won 56 out of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats at the 2015 General Election.
Meanwhile, the SNP was accused of “misusing” the NHS logo by adapting the health service logo to read “NHSNP”, asking “who cares most about the NHS?”, with a tweet stating that a vote for the party on June 8 can send a message to the Conservatives saying “hands off Scotland’s NHS”.
Scottish Labour said the material amounted to a “scare campaign” given that health is a devolved area.