Time and again the Tories have sworn to us that they are properly funding the National Health Service – and time and again their own figures prove them liars.

If the service was properly funded, they wouldn’t be raiding the budget for essential modernisation to pay for “high risk” repairs, without which there would be “catastrophic” equipment failures or major disruption of care.

That’s just the most serious repairs – not the everyday.

It’s just like the 1980s and 1990s all over again. The Tories are running our health service into oblivion and lying to us about it.

The Government raided £1bn from NHS funds to keep services running this year, Treasury papers reveal. The money had been earmarked for maintenance and repairs of ageing NHS buildings and equipment,

NHS funds for essential modernisation shrank by 8 per cent in 2017-18, despite the Treasury pledging £500m for equipment like state-of-the-art scanners and IT upgrades.

The raids were permitted even though official figures show hospitals need to spend £1bn just for “high risk” repairs, which if left unaddressed could lead to “catastrophic” equipment failures or major disruption of care.

Source: Government raided £1bn from NHS budget for maintenance and repairs just to keep the lights on

---

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has left a moving tribute to a homeless man who died outside Westminster Underground station, close to the Houses of Parliament.

Mr Corbyn and his team are said to have been on good terms with the man, having regularly brought him hot food from the Portcullis House canteen. He was said to have had an “engaging personality in tragic circumstances”.

After learning of the death, a Labour spokesperson pointed out that MPs who walked past the man every day should have been working to make him safe – and didn’t bother: “He died outside the very building that should have saved him. We are heartbroken.”

Mr Corbyn himself left a floral tribute and a card at the place where the man died. The card read: “This should never have happened. As a country we must stop walking by. Rest in peace.”

The contrast between attitudes could not have been made clearer than by the fact that Windsor and Maidenhead Council was considering measures to fine rough sleepers, charging them amounts they would never be able to pay for cluttering up the streets of the Tory-run borough.

A homeless man MPs walked past every day on their way into Parliament died today on the steps of Parliament. Meanwhile the Tories are introducing a £100 charge for Rough Sleepers in Windsor.

— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) February 14, 2018

The Tory council in Windsor and Maidenhead was set to consider the plan at its February meeting – but it has now been withdrawn on the request of council leader Simon Dudley, who first called on police to use the Vagrancy Act to clear rough sleepers off the streets.

According to The Guardian, a statement said: “The leader of the council, following feedback from stakeholders, the public and elected members, in discussion with lead members has requested the paper titled Rough Sleepers Support and Anti-social Behaviour Strategy is withdrawn from February cabinet to allow further work.

“The further work will result in two papers to March cabinet to ensure there is no conflation of the council’s separate objectives of supporting rough sleepers and refreshing the approach to tackling anti-social behaviour.”

It is hard to tell whether the decision to withdraw the punitive plan against rough sleepers followed or preceded the death in Westminster.

It certainly seems unlikely that the Conservative Party would want the bad publicity associated with the passing of such draconian measures shortly after such a high-profile death.

But the issue still remains.

Rough sleeping in England has increased for seven consecutive years, with official figures showing 4,751 people slept outside overnight in 2017.

The number of children in England stuck in hostels and other temporary accommodation has risen to more than 120,000, according to government figures.

The Conservatives claim to have a plan to cut these figures – but This Writer has commented previously that they seem to be relying on exactly what happened in Westminster: Rough sleepers dying out.

They seem to think that they don’t have any responsibility for the situation, even though their policies have clearly caused it. And their only solution is to punish their victims still further.

It has been proved that providing homes for the homeless is cheaper than leaving them on the streets – and preventing homelessness in the first place is the cheapest option of all.

So we have to ask why the Tories insist on causing the situation in the first place.

Conscious cruelty?

---

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: