Advertisement

UKIP Makes £3bn Extra NHS Funding Pledge

UKIP Makes £3bn Extra NHS Funding Pledge

UKIP has pledged £3bn of additional funding for the NHS and a clampdown on "health tourism" as it outlined its commitments to the health service ahead of the general election.

Speaking in Rochester, Kent, a seat the party won in a by-election last year, Louise Bours MEP, UKIP's health spokesperson, told activists there would be "an additional £3bn more for the NHS every year; an affordable sum paid for ultimately by the savings we will make from leaving the European Union".

"This money will provide 20,000 new nurses, 3,000 midwives and 8,000 GPs.

"We will also invest in training, in equipment, in research."

The party, which committed to the NHS being free at the point of delivery, also promised to spend £130m per year on fighting dementia - £650m over the next parliament - double what the Conservatives have pledged.

Ms Bours said: "Dementia is the biggest killer of women over the age of 55 and the fifth biggest killer of men, but research into the condition is woefully underfunded.

"UKIP will ensure researchers receive the resources they require in order to tackle this disease effectively."

The loudest applause from activists came with a promise to clamp down on health tourism.

"Our NHS is the National Health Service, not the International Health Service," Ms Bours told the mainly elderly activists who had gathered to listen to the speech.

"UKIP will not give NHS numbers to overseas visitors.

"Only once they have contributed through taxation for five years, will their requirement for health insurance expire.

"We'll spend £200m of the £1bn saved from health tourism to end a shocking tax on the sick and the vulnerable: yes, UKIP will end hospital car parking charges in England."

Questions remain about how exactly these extra commitments will be funded.

Figures about how much "health tourism" costs are widely disputed.

And the party has used the savings that would be made from leaving the European Union to help fund other pledges, with critics suggesting that it can't possibly pay for them all.

When questioned afterwards, Ms Bours also seemed to suggest NHS staff should get a pay rise above the 1% currently in place.

But she wouldn't be drawn on whether that will come from the extra £3bn they have promised.

Labour MP Jon Trickett attacked the speech, saying: "Nigel Farage has made clear that he personally believes in increased NHS privatisation, so a single speech cannot hide their real agenda.

"A vote for UKIP means further tax cuts for those at the top, NHS privatisation and higher taxes for working families.

"UKIP is a party of Tory policies, Tory people and Tory money - they are more Tory than the Tories."