Miliband Hits Out At Cameron Over NHS Pledge

Ed Miliband has hit out at David Cameron's pledge to pump an extra £8bn a year into the NHS by 2020, warning the PM: "You can't fund the NHS on an IOU."

The Labour leader was speaking after the Prime Minister pledged to protect the NHS by meeting its funding needs "in full".
Mr Cameron has promised to fund the five-year reform plan put forward by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens by providing at least an extra £8bn a year for the health service by 2020.
This will mean that over-75s will be guaranteed same-day access to GPs, patients will be able to see doctors out of regular office hours and the NHS will provide a full range of services seven days a week, according to Mr Cameron.
But Mr Miliband said: "We've seen five years of failure and broken promises from David Cameron on the NHS."
He added: "The truth is - you can't save the NHS if you don't know where the money is coming from.
"You can only damage the NHS when you are planning colossal cuts in public spending year after year after year, which is what this Tory government is planning.
"The choice is clear: a funded Labour plan for more doctors, nurses and midwives - or unfunded promises from a Tory party that has a record of breaking its word."
Labour has published a mini-manifesto on the NHS, which includes a new right to a dedicated midwife before and after childbirth.
The party also tweeted a video of an exchange at Prime Minister's Questions earlier this year in which Mr Cameron said the "real risk" to the NHS was "unfunded spending commitments".
Speaking to Sky's Anushka Asthana, Mr Cameron said the Conservatives are able to fund the plan "because we have a strong economy and because we have taken the long-term decisions necessary to put the NHS first".
He said: "I want an NHS that continues to expand and improve and provide great care, that continues to save lives.
"It's always been there for me and my family and I want it there for everyone's families."
Funding of the health service is one of the key issues of the campaign so far.
Mr Stevens predicted in a report in October that, if health spending rose only at the rate of inflation, growing demand for care would leave the NHS in England with a £30bn funding gap by 2020.
He said around £22bn of that could be met through "efficiencies", but the remainder would have to come from government funds.
Up to now only the Liberal Democrats had committed to finding the extra money.
Sky's Health Correspondent Thomas Moore said the Conservative commitment to fund the NHS is no more or less unfunded than Labour's.
He said: "The Tories are banking on growing tax receipts by the Treasury as wages rise with the recovery. No guarantees there.
"Labour is banking on a mansion tax (verified £1.2bn), a tobacco tax (no details yet) and a crackdown on tax avoidance (always difficult to guarantee because the rich employ clever accountants."