by Prof Jim Gallagher, Better Together advisor
Alex
Salmond is claiming today that
privatisation of the NHS in England could lead to cuts in health spending in
Scotland. This is nothing but a scare story.
Health is devolved…
First of all, the NHS in
Scotland is run by the Scottish Parliament. If Scots don’t want to have private
contractors running services, then we don’t have to. All these powers have been
devolved since 1999, and the Scottish NHS has taken a different road from
England in many ways. That’s the great strength of devolution. It responds to
what Scottish voters want, and it means different approaches can be followed in
different parts of the UK.
…and the Barnett formula is not affected
And even if the NHS in
England does use private contractors for some of its work, it’s still all paid
for out of taxation. It’s not paid by some private insurance scheme or by
patients having to hand over money for treatment. Care is free at the point of
need. It’s all public spending, whoever delivers it.
That means that in the
calculation of the Barnett formula, which supports the Scottish Parliament’s
budget, all of English health spending still counts–whether it’s delivered by
contractors or anyone else. So any move to this sort of privatisation in
England would have no effect at all on Scotland’s health budget. The First
Minister is deliberately misleading if he says that it is.
This is
the system that means we in
Scotland spend nearly £2000 per head every year on health, higher than every
other part of the UK and about 9% more per had than in England (source HM Treasury Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis)
The NHS is valued across the UK
One of the things that
people in Scotland and England share is a very deep commitment to a National
Health Service, and to healthcare paid for at the point of need and out of
taxation. Here is what the polling data tells us:
So this
is nothing but a scare story designed to frighten people into voting for
separation. Don’t be fooled.
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