I have been contacted by many constituents this week, asking me about the truth of the Vote Leave claim that we send £350 million to the EU every week. The independent Institute of Fiscal Studies say our net contribution was £5.7 billion a year – equivalent to 24p per person per day. This takes into account the UK rebate, which does not leave the UK, and the money which comes back to us. The head of the UK Statistics Authority has said Vote Leave’s use of the figure is “potentially misleading”. We pay £5.7bn to be a member of the world’s largest free trade zone, but the CBI has shown that the net benefit of being in the EU is worth £91bn to our economy.
We need a strong economy to raise the taxes to pay for the NHS. Analysis has shown that leaving the EU would leave our tax receipts facing an annual estimated £36 billion black hole. That’s the equivalent of NHS England losing over a third of its budget.
Over 100 000 EU nationals work in the health and social care sector, including locally at Treliske. If we left, our ability to staff the NHS would be put at risk, causing waiting times to go up and the quality of care to go down.
The people campaigning to leave the EU, including Nigel Farage and Vote Leave Director Matthew Elliot, have for years campaigned to privatise the NHS. They can’t be trusted with the NHS.
Just 1% of government spending goes to the EU, about £7 billion. If we left the EU, the Treasury estimates public spending would be hit by £36 billion. It’s simply not true that leaving the EU would free up resources for the NHS. It won’t. Leaving means less money for the NHS, not more.
Published by West Briton.
Sarah Newton 