The publication of the manifestos of the three major parties has been followed by a barrage of useful information on the state of the NHS, from the Guardian and the Nuffield Trust, and a new Dashboard on GP services from the Health Foundation.
The common message is that after 14 years of under-funding and under-investment, the NHS is in such a poorly state that none of the main parties’ proposals are affordable within the limited additional funding they have proposed, and none of them tackles more than a small element of the problems that have grown since 2010.
Of parties with significant national following, only the Green Party on the left (uniquely calling for taxation of the wealthiest to fund their proposals) even suggest the much higher levels of spending that are needed to tackle chronic underfunding.
By contrast the ludicrous fantasy proposals of Reform on the far right rest on impossible assumptions.
The Green Party comes closest to acknowledging the scale of the current financial problems, when it argues the need for increases in both revenue and capital:
Full article on The Lowdown, 19 June 2024