Kevin Schofield is Politics Editor of HuffPost UK.
He took issue with chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to cut 4p off national insurance at the same time as Rishi Sunak is failing to meet
Robinson asked the minister: “Why is your party, the Conservative Party, promising billions of pounds in unfunded tax cuts at a time there is a crisis in the NHS and a Conservative prime minister hasn’t even met the pledge that he made on coming to office?” Atkins replied: “Well at the spring Budget the chancellor was not only able to offer a second tax cut to working people in a row from the autumn statement, adding up to some £900 or so for the average worker, but he was also able to ensure that a further £2.5 billion has gone into day to day spending for the NHS.”When Atkins said “we simply don’t measure NHS budgets in that way”, the presenter told her: “I’ll give you the figures if I may.
He added: “Why are you cutting taxes when the health service needs more money? Why are you not even spending on the scale that Margaret Thatcher did? She increased spending by more than 4% a year in real terms, you are planning - even if you don’t allow for population increase - an increase of less than 1% in real terms.”She said: “The tax cuts that the chancellor put forward, both at autumn statement and it spring Budget, he’s been able to do that whilst balancing the books.
The pair clashed as new figures were expected to show waiting lists coming down - but still higher than when Sunak became prime minister.'You're In A Sulk': Nick Robinson Refuses To Indulge Nadine Dorries And Her 'Plot' ClaimsSign up and we will email you daily with the best of our political and news coverage while also giving you a taste of our most-popular lifestyle, opinion and personal blogs.
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