NHS will need further tax rises, ministers admit

In his speech on Monday, Sir Keir appeared to signal a move to a Scandinavian-style tax burden to continue funding increases. NHS.

Asked if his priorities were at odds with the public mood, following a poll suggesting most voters would favor lower taxes over investment in public services, he said: “No. I think for a very long time we argued that you could lower taxes and spend more on public services, but you can’t do that; you can’t do that anymore.” It’s time for us to face it.

“Almost everyone knows NHS is broken. We’ll fix it, get it back on its feet, and make it something we can be proud of again. But what we won’t do is perpetuate the fiction that got us here: that you can always have lower taxes and your public services running smoothly.

“The last 14 years have shown this to be completely wrong and people voted for change.

Nobody wants a tax increase, least of all me, so we’ll do the hard work in this Budget which will then allow us to rebuild the country. “I cannot give you an absolute guarantee that there will be no adjustment to tax in any Budget again, because we do not know what will happen very soon.”

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrats’ health and social care spokeswoman, said: “After years of Tory mismanagement, the NHS needs serious support. Millions of people wait in pain and distress for the care they need.

“It is disappointing that the new Government has not shown the commitment this country needs to get our NHS back on its feet. “If stopping the decline is the best they can do, I fear people will continue to wait too long for treatment.”