Stop scrimping, Theresa May – or the NHS’s 70th birthday will be its last | Polly Toynbee
by Polly Toynbee from on (#3QXC7)
The NHS needs 2000 more per household to survive. But as long as they're ahead in the polls, the Tories don't seem to care
This is it. The bailiffs are at the door waving the red-ink bill. Pay up or else. For eight years the government has stuck the NHS bill behind the clock but now the crunch has come. Will July's NHS 70th birthday be a celebration or a funeral? The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), grand truth-teller of fiscal facts, alongside the Health Foundation, an NHS pulse-taker, declare the service needs - absolutely, unequivocally needs - funds that add another 2000 a year per household in tax over the next 15 years.
Related: NHS needs 2,000 in tax from every household to stay afloat - report
In polls, people swear they would pay more for the NHS. But politicians fear tax-raisers get punished on election day
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