‘The futures of the NHS and our schools are at stake in
this election’ – Labour sets out clear choice between investment
in public services for the many or five more years of neglect
with the Tories
At a media launch in London today, , Leader of the , Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow
Health Secretary and , Shadow Education Secretary,
turned the spotlight on public services, arguing that this
election is vital for the future of the NHS and our schools.
Labour has published research highlighting the threat to our
schools and hospitals posed by five more years of the
Conservatives and have committed the party to reversing years of
Tory neglect.
New analysis of the Tory threat has revealed that if the current
rate of deterioration under the Tories continues, by 2022 our
health and education services could be facing huge problems. It
could mean:
In a Tory NHS and social care system:
· 5.5 million
people on waiting lists in England, 1.8 million more than at
present.
· Almost 1.5
million older and vulnerable people with unmet social care needs.
In a Tory education system:
· 650,000 pupils
crammed into primary classes of over 30.
· Families left
almost £450 worse off per child as a result of the Tories’ plan
to scrap free school meals for 1.7 million children.
The choice at the election is stark. The Tories have no plan to
properly fund our public services, pushing them further into
crisis. Labour will take a different. approach, we will rebuild
our public services for the many by modest tax rises for
companies and the richest 5 per cent.
Labour will build an NHS and social care system for the many:
· Labour will
invest £37 billion in our NHS and take one million people off the
waiting list by the end of the next Parliament.
· Labour will
invest £8 billion in social care over the course of the next
Parliament and lay the foundations of a National Care Service to
integrate health and social care.
Labour will build an education system for the many:
· Labour will cap
class sizes at 30 for 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds.
· Labour will
provide free school meals to all primary school children by
removing VAT exemption on private school fees.
, Leader of the , said:
“The futures of our NHS and schools are at stake in this
election.
“Over the last seven years the Tories have starved the public
services we rely on of resources, running them down and pushing
them into disrepair.
“Patients are suffering ever longer waits and overcrowded wards;
those who need care have been left without it. Children are
crammed into overcrowded and crumbling classrooms. It has to
change.
“Labour will invest in our people, schools and hospitals. We will
cut class sizes, take a million people off the NHS waiting list
and ensure people get the care they deserve.
“By contrast another five years of the Tories would be disastrous
for our public services. At the rate we’re going we could see 5.5
million people on the English waiting list and 1.5 million older
people with unmet care needs. And young people and their families
face the prospect of more overcrowding in schools and having to
pick up the bill for the Tories’ unfair plan to scrap free school
meals for hundreds of thousands of children.
“On June 8th there’s only one party that will
improve our public services for the many not the few, that’s the
.”