NHS ‘Brexit dividend’ met with scepticism
Theresa May’s extra £20bn a year described as ‘tosh’ by Tory MP

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Theresa May’s gift to the NHS of an an extra £20bn a year, funded in part by a “Brexit dividend”, has been met with anger and scepticism by experts, opposition MPs and even some in her own party.
The extra funding “marks a dramatic break with eight years of austerity and follows a difficult battle with the Treasury for more funds”, reports The Independent.
Where will the money come from?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The PM, who will formally set out the spending plan for the NHS in England today, remained vague about where the extra money would come from, but the Government has hinted it would have to rise taxes and increase borrowing.
The rest of the money will come from what ministers are calling a “Brexit dividend”, by diverting the £9bn the UK currently pays into the EU budget to NHS funding.
“At the moment, as a member of the European Union, every year we spend significant amounts of money on our subscription, if you like, to the EU,” the PM told the BBC’s Andrew Marr yesterday. “When we leave we won’t be doing that. It’s right that we use that money to spend on our priorities and the NHS is our number one priority.”
The Times described the increase as “a victory for Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove”, who lobbied vocally in cabinet for a Brexit dividend for the health service, and says it will “enable the prime minister to claim she has fulfilled the controversial pledge of pro-Brexit campaigners to increase NHS spending by £350m a week”.
Do the numbers add up?
May’s decision to fund the increase partly from a Brexit dividend “signals an insistence that the UK will leave the EU next year, and is likely to frustrate pro-Remain MPs and peers pushing for the country to stay within the bloc or keep the closest possible ties” says The Sunday Telegraph.
But the argument Britain could redirect money it currently sends to Brussels after Brexit “contradicts official forecasts, which predict that leaving the EU will weaken the public finances, at least in the short term”, reports The Guardian.
EU contributions until 2022 have already been earmarked, either to keep paying into Brussels budgets or to replace this spending elsewhere says the paper.
The director of the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson , told the BBC’s Sunday Politics: “If you look at the arrangement we’ve come to with the European Union in terms of paying our exit bill and you add to that the commitments the government has already made to keep funding farmers so on, there is literally, arithmetically, no money.
He says the Government has accepted that Brexit would swipe £15bn a year from revenues – or £300m a week.
What has been the reaction?
Labour accused May of relying on a "hypothetical" windfall, with shadow chancellor John McDonnell describing the source as a "a magic money forest".
May also faced criticism from within her own party, with Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, who chairs the Commons health and social care committee, describing the idea of a Brexit dividend as "tosh" and accusing the government of using "populist arguments rather than evidence".
The PM is also under pressure over the amount of the increase which, at 3.4% until 2023-24, is in fact lower than the 3.7% average rise in NHS funding over the past 70 years.
Even so, the handout, which was finalised on Friday after a tense stand-off between the Treasury and the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, has "sparked a mutiny" at the heart of government, The Times reports. It says at least six senior cabinet members are demanding more money for police, defence, housing and schools.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Government shutdown avoided as Congress passes temporary funding bill
Speed Read The bill will fund the government through Nov. 17
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Today's political cartoons — September 30, 2023
Saturday's cartoons - Trump's poll numbers, the Hunter Biden investigation, and more
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 30, 2023
Daily Briefing Government shutdown looms after failed House vote, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies at 90, and more
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Why is the UK pushing Germany on fighter jets for Saudi Arabia?
Today's big question Berlin has opposed the sale of weapons to Riyadh on humanitarian grounds
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Is it time the world re-evaluated the rules on migration?
Today's Big Question Home Secretary Suella Braverman questions whether 1951 UN Refugee Convention is 'fit for our modern age'
By The Week Staff Published
-
Rishi Sunak's tree code: what is the PM's election strategy?
Today's Big Question Conservative leader lining up major policy announcements in bid to rebrand as 'change' candidate
By Elliott Goat Published
-
Will Rishi Sunak's green wedge issue win over the public?
Today's Big Question The PM draws dividing line with Labour on net zero ahead of the next general election
By Sorcha Bradley Published
-
Industry backlash as Sunak set to water down green pledges
Speed Read Automotive and energy bosses look for clarity after PM backs away from UK net zero goal
By Arion McNicoll Published
-
October by-elections: what's at stake for Labour, Lib Dems and Tories
Parties will contest two former safe Tory seats on 19 October, putting pressure on Rishi Sunak
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Would Keir Starmer get a better Brexit deal?
Today's big question Labour leader must overcome fact that European capitals 'consider Brexit yesterday's problem'
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
The Abuse of Power by Theresa May review
Talking Point This 'serious book by a serious woman' hardly counts as a memoir at all
By The Week Staff Published