May tells Holyrood Scotland should use £2 billion extra cash to boost NHS

Theresa May has told the Scottish Government it should spend an estimated £2bn Barnett formula windfall on health so that increased funds for the NHS in England “benefit the whole United Kingdom”.

The Prime Minister also said devolved administrations should follow England’s lead in moving towards multiyear funding settlements for the NHS, in a call backed by the BMA Scotland.

Mrs May is under fire for claiming a spending boost worth around £20bn extra per year by 2024 will be partpaid for by a ‘Brexit dividend’, despite economists saying that leaving the EU will hit public finances.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted the plans, which Mrs May said deliver on the Leave campaign’s pledge of £350m more a week for the