Why is NI being increased when Brexit was meant to fund the NHS shortfall.

[pollygartertidywife]

Hi All. I am really sorry if this question has been asked before but I have had a look for a past thread and can't find one.
I have just listened to all the guff coming out of Nadhim Zahawi's mouth this morning on the Today programme. Lots of talk about how the NI rise is essential to fund NHS and social care.. and I can't help but cast my mind back 4 /5 years and seem to remember that one of the main reasons to leave the EU was the amount of money we paid in.. and how all that dosh was going to support the NHS . It was a big influence in many people voting to leave.
(I voted remain but did waiver for a moment on this particular issue )

Has this claim been forgotten about ? Why is it not mentioned in political debate ? And if it has - what is the reasoning given that this hike is needed on top of all the Brexit 'savings'

What? I don’t remember them saying EU contributions would be ringfenced for the NHS. I thought it was just hypothetical - eg “I’ve got £50, I could buy a takeaway or some nice stationery”.

Because they lied!
It was all weasel words. Wasn't the wording that the money could be put towards the NHS, not that it would?

To be fair, we have had a rather significant interruption to the economy over the last couple of years. Am not saying the Brexit "promises" were right or accurate, but any pre-Covid economic plans are firmly out of the window and we've got a pretty massive deficit to address

Big red bus with 350 million a week written in large letters on the side RunningintheWind

Boris Johnson standing in front of it, arms wide, lying grin stuck on his face.

It’s not discussed enough in the media you’re right op.

@RunningInTheWind

What? I don’t remember them saying EU contributions would be ringfenced for the NHS. I thought it was just hypothetical - eg “I’ve got £50, I could buy a takeaway or some nice stationery”.

Bugger me people have short memories when it suits them

www.jla.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-07-at-11.23.31.png

The total budget for the nhs is more than £100bn/yr. That doesn't include everything because it's not all a single lump sum from one source but that's the scale. The total tax revenue the government takes from all sources is around £850bn/yr so the NHS is a bit less than an eighth of that.

The actual net contribution to the EU was about £7.8bn/yr (source here but the government is having to spend way more than that on propping up all the communities and industries who have lost EU funding, so there is zero brexit dividend, which was entirely predictable and was indeed publicly predicted many many times before the referendum.

The idea that leaving the EU was ever going to solve nhs underfunding was laughable. Even if there had been a brexit dividend it would have been a drop in the ocean. It's unfortunate that the state of education in this country is so low that too many people were taken in by such ridiculous claims, but it's done now.

Yabu for expecting any kind of honesty and integrity from the clowns who are currently in charge, but this country has the crappy government it deserves, and things will carry on getting worse because there are insufficient people who care enough to make any significant changes.

Two main reasons.

Health (NHS) and Social care (predominantly local authorities) are two separate budgets.

Secondly, they lied and it was all spin. Disgraceful.

OP, have you not noticed the Covid pandemic for the last two years, and the £70 billion cost of the furlough scheme? Or the £12 billion cost of the vaccine program?
Don’t you think that might have made just a teeny little dent in the Brexit dividend cash?

It’s almost as if they were talking bollocks.

They also said if we left the EU we’d be free to cut VAT on energy bills. Boris Johnson talking about VAT on energy: “When we Vote Leave, we will be able to scrap this unfair and damaging tax.”

But then, he isn’t known for honesty so I’m not sure why anyone would have believed him on these points.

@Babdoc

OP, have you not noticed the Covid pandemic for the last two years, and the £70 billion cost of the furlough scheme? Or the £12 billion cost of the vaccine program? Don’t you think that might have made just a teeny little dent in the Brexit dividend cash?

Do you actually believe that if covid hadn’t happened, all brexit promises would have been kept and we’d have £350 million a week extra to spend on the NHS?

I do understand why the money is needed but I don't understand why more political capital isn't been made from the fact that they lied and the thing people voted for can't and never was going to happen.

@QuestionsorComments

I do understand why the money is needed but I don't understand why more political capital isn't been made from the fact that they lied and the thing people voted for can't and never was going to happen.

Because it's too easy for the government to blame it on Covid now, and move the story on.

It actually hurt seeing how many people believed that bloody bus. My grandparents voted leave because of the bus and they're long gone. I don't think I saw any real evidence of how leaving or remaining would be transformative, but it's painful how untruthful and underhand the leave campaign were.

Nigel's anti-immigration poster might have been the only thing worse than the bus.

In an answer OP.... They fucking lied.

He lied.

No matter that there has been a pandemic, disgraceful to use that to cover his ar*e.
There was never going to be a £350m saving with or without a pandemic.

He still lied.

@RunningInTheWind

What? I don’t remember them saying EU contributions would be ringfenced for the NHS. I thought it was just hypothetical - eg “I’ve got £50, I could buy a takeaway or some nice stationery”.

They wrote that message on the bus!

Don’t you think that might have made just a teeny little dent in the Brexit dividend cash?

When should we expect to see this dividend? Is this for the Brexit that's apparently 'done' or from the amazing deals that are not yet done but are going to be amazing?

It's hard to keep track of all this winning!

@IpanemaPeaHen

Big red bus with 350 million a week written in large letters on the side RunningintheWind

Boris Johnson standing in front of it, arms wide, lying grin stuck on his face.

It’s not discussed enough in the media you’re right op.

Easy to miss 😂

IpenemaPeaHen
Thank you so much for the bus photo.. I was honestly beginning to think I had imagined it. !

There is a huge amount of political talk around cost of living, NI increases, NHS funding etc and the great BREXIT advantage was going to be this massive saving and all out amazing new overseas trade deals with countries many more miles away than our immediate neighbours.. yet NONE of these advantages seem to of appeared.

Covid doesn't cut it. The entire world has had Covid. We are 17th out of 38 countries in terms of generosity in our benefit systems ... so where was the great saving ? and why is more political capital not being made out of the bloody bus - that convinced so many

Amazing isn't it! Yes - that bus has a lot to answer for.

Lies, untruths and fiction all the way

But you are clearly ignoring all the amazing wins from Brexit like blue passports (made by a French-Dutch company in Poland) and a crown on a pint glass.... and.... and....

Just imagine how much worse off we would be currently, if we were still haemorrhaging £350 million a week to the EU on top of the £82 billion (and rising) cost of the pandemic.
And OP yes, the whole world has covid. And most countries are struggling with the cost, as we are. But most were not so generous with furlough, and many have not provided adequate vaccine coverage.

The NHS and social care are entirely different. Care homes are being closed up and down the country. We are living longer with multiple co-morbidities. My gran is 85 and had diabetes, neuropathy, heart problems, spinal issues and is overweight. She has multiple carers over the course of the day, this is a realistic picture for many elderly people, in that they require a higher level of care that even 20 years ago families might provide. The family dynamic has changed now and people need a lot more help that is more complex. Whilst I loathe the idea of being a lot worse off in April (our rent and council tax are being increased by a lovely £80 a month), people really seem clueless about the ever increasing cost for care. The NHS alone needs a massive amount but the care within the community has largely been failed for so long.

currently, if we were still haemorrhaging £350 million a week to the EU

😂 You fell for it....

Why did anyone think a party who is ideologically opposed to a publicly funded health service would properly fund it anyway
Reduced regulation to benefit the rich and the freedom of the rich to get even richer is what they wanted. The super rich make more money from an unstable society

There is a huge amount of political talk around cost of living, NI increases, NHS funding etc and the great BREXIT advantage was going to be this massive saving and all out amazing new overseas trade deals with countries many more miles away than our immediate neighbours.. yet NONE of these advantages seem to of appeared.

They never were going to appear. The figures were lies from the start, but anyone pointing this out and that there could be no “Brexit Dividend” was howled at and called “project fear”. But it was predictable and predicted, and sadly a lot of people just wanted to pretend it wasn’t.