Feryal Clark calls for more support for health and social care as the Chancellor neglects the NHS in his Budget speech

Feryal Clark, MP for Enfield North, has called out the lack of support offered for the NHS recovery and social care in the Chancellor’s Budget announcement on Wednesday.  The Chancellor’s speech saw just one mention of the NHS, and no mention of the huge challenges facing social care.

Budget documents revealed that NHS England core resource spending will fall from £147.7 million this year down to £139.1 million next, meaning there is no plan to deal with the ongoing cost to the NHS from Covid.  The Government has also not allocated any additional resources to tackle the crisis now facing cancer care or waiting lists that have built up during the crisis.

With confirmation that Britain has suffered the worst economic crisis of any major economy, the Chancellor also neglected to provide any plans for job creation and has only extended the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit by a meagre six months.  This follows new figures that in Enfield North the number of people under 25 needing to claim out of work benefits has risen by 148% in the last year.

Feryal Clark, MP for Enfield North, said:

“After being in Government for ten years, the Tories have still not delivered the promised Social Care Green Paper which is now four years late.  It was a huge mistake from the Chancellor to not even mention social care in this year’s Budget as this issue continues to be neglected, and is grossly irresponsible of him to not offer any plan for NHS and social care recovery.

“As youth unemployment rates continue to rise in Enfield North, I was also very concerned to see that the Chancellor plans to cut the £20 uplift to Universal Credit in six months.  Our local high streets desperately need support and investment to create and protect jobs, but the Chancellor’s cuts to income and council tax hikes will prevent people from being able to spend money in small businesses on their local high streets, damaging the prospect of recovery.

“The Chancellor needs to learn his lessons from the pandemic, but instead he is taking us back to the same insecure economy and unequal society so cruelly exposed by the virus. He has got his priorities totally wrong and is out of touch with what this country needs.”