NHS Winter Crisis

Clive Efford Excerpts

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I will give way to the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford), and then to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy).

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on facing down the Prime Minister on Monday, when what emerged was one man, two jobs, no governor. He must accept that the £6 billion in cuts to social care since 2010 has had a major impact, particularly on winter crises. Does he regret the Government’s decision to take that money out of social care?

[Mr Hunt]

In 2010, we faced the worst financial crisis since the second world war. The hon. Gentleman will know which Government were in charge when that happened. People were talking about a run on the pound—I notice that the Labour party continues to talk about that—and the crisis had to be addressed. We, like other countries, had to make significant reductions in public funding, but when we got the economy back on its feet and started creating jobs—1,000 jobs a day since 2010—the first place into which we put extra money was the NHS and the social care system. There is £600 million more in the social care system than there was two years ago.