An all-party solution to the NHS is overdue

It is encouraging to see MPS from three parties coming together to seek a long-term solution to the difficulties faced by the NHS. The Conservative Nick Boles, Liz Kendall from Labour and the Lib Dem Norman Lamb have joined forces to press for a common approach to the most intractable and toxic issue in domestic British politics. Whether their preferred solution – a ring-fenced NHS tax – is the right answer is another matter. This idea has been gaining support including, it is claimed, from Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary. It involves dedicating National Insurance to health and social care in what the MPS somewhat portentously called a “second Beveridge moment”.

The point about the national insurance system is that it was supposed to invest money in a fund to pay for contributors’ future pension and health needs. In reality it rapidly became just another tax, with the revenues going into the general pool for all public spending.

Using National Insurance to raise money for the NHS is not new. Gordon Brown increased contributions in 2002 specifically to boost funding for health. This brought in £8.2billion extra a year, but it was not specifically allocated to the NHS, even though NHS spending did rise significantly under Labour before the financial crash of 2008.

The new plan would hypothecate the money raised so it could only be spent on health. Polls suggest this would be popular – though people often favour higher taxes if they think they won’t have to pay them personally.

With the 70th anniversary of the NHS falling in July, its future is once again going to become a major bone of contention. Unfortunately, this usually means that any radical ideas for new funding models or structural overhauls are killed off by inter-party squabbling, with Labour ready to denounce anything that diverges from the “free at the point of delivery” presumption set out in 1948. Some Conservatives also want to make good on their promise to spend more on health care from the money saved by leaving the EU in order to rekindle public enthusiasm for Brexit as the withdrawal date approaches.

Certainly the NHS needs more money because the population is ageing. But it would be good to see a cross-party consensus develop around the need for a much more wide-ranging discussion about the future of the NHS if it is to survive another 70 years.