You Might Like
BBC Question Time: ‘I Am Not A Liar’ Says Tory Minister Margot James As Party Accused Of Running Down NHS
A Conservative minister has made a fierce defence of her Government’s record on the NHS after the party was accused of running down the service.
During a major flashpoint on BBC’s Question Time, James said she was “not a liar” after a clash where an audience member claimed the Tories were under-funding the service to then open it up to privatisation.
The MP was called a “liar” as she pointed to Conservative support for the NHS.
The Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, who also faced a barrage of criticism over the Government’s handling of the Carillion collapse, argued the Government has repeatedly increased spending on health and injected an extra £3.5 billion at the recent Budget.
The exchange centred around the Department of Health replacing bursaries for nurses with loans, which it says will free up £800m a year to create extra nursing roles.
Audience member: “What I do not understand is, there is public support to put more money into the NHS, to pay our nurses more, to support our nurses and reinstall the bursary programme, because if you are going to be a nurse and qualify earning less than £30,000 a year, but you ended up in so much debt, with such high interest rates to pay, why would you do it? “It does not make any sense. I wonder if the Conservative government we have is ideological making the NHS – underfunding it – so they can make the argument for privatisation.” Audience cheers. James:“I am very sorry there is such enthusiasm for what you have said because it is utterly untrue.” Audience interrupts. James: “I am sorry, I have been accused of wanting to set the NHS up to fail so that we can privatise it. Nothing can be further from the truth.” Audience member:“Liar!” James:“I am not a liar. I have spent time volunteering in the NHS over four, five years. I am not a liar. I believe in the NHS. And so does my Government. And we do put more money into it.” Audience interrupts again. James:“I am sorry, I am going to carry on answering this question. We have put an extra £3.5 billion in at the last Budget, we have increased the NHS budget every year since we got into office. “I do accept there is more demographic pressures on it. I do accept that, that is true. But it is not true to say that we do not invest in the NHS and it is an utter lie to say that we don’t believe in it, because we do.”
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/margot-james-nhs-question-time_uk_5a613305e4b01d91b254426a
You Might Like