Sheffield MP Slams Chancellor’s Budget

Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield has slammed the Chancellor’s failure to back the NHS in a Commons debate on this week’s Budget, accusing the Government of failing to learn from “a decade of running our health service on a knife edge”.

Mr Blomfield told the House of Commons:
“We need a proper inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, to understand why we’ve one of the highest death rates in the world. But one factor is clear. A decade of running our health service on a knife edge, expecting maximum delivery from minimum funding, left us with too few nurses, doctors and beds.

"The crisis demanded capacity we lacked - and catching up on the treatment backlog will demand more. But instead of the funding needed, the Chancellor is proposing a £30 billion cut.

"What an insult to the NHS staff he was so happy to be photographed clapping. A cut for the system that has stretched them to the limit. And no money for the sort of pay rise they deserve. "

The Sheffield Central MP also pressed Ministers on the crisis in social care, reminding them that:
“On taking office, the PM promised “we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all, with a clear plan that we have prepared.”

Going on to point out that:

“In this Budget, and in his interviews this morning, his would-be successor, the Chancellor, has acknowledged there is no plan.”

After speaking in Parliament, Paul Blomfield commented: “Most people will find it unbelievable that after clapping for carers outside 11 Downing Street, the Chancellor has proposed a cut to NHS funding and nothing on the care crisis – rather than learning the lessons from the pandemic by strengthening health and care services.

“He has once again proved himself to be style over substance – his slick PR job can’t hide the fact that his Budget contains more of the same cuts to our health service.”