DOWNING Street is demanding the Treasury fast-tracks billions of pounds to the NHS as part of a summer-long blitz against Jeremy Corbyn.
The Sun can reveal, Tory high-command has called on Chancellor Sajid Javid to do “everything he can” to ensure the extra money promised by Theresa May is getting to the front line.
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Some £4 billion more is due to be pumped into the NHS over the course of 2019-2020.
It follows claims that ex-Chancellor Philip Hammond was slow to release the funds.
New chief of staff Dominic Cummings is understood to have spoken to NHS England chief Simon Stevens about the delays.
An insider said: “We need to make sure the stuff we’ve promised is being delivered. We promised more to the NHS and they need to see it. We promised money for the police, they need to see it.”
SUMMER-LONG BITZ AGAINST JEREMY CORBYN
Another source told The Sun: “No.10 is aware the NHS is the only thing sustaining Labour and Jeremy Corbyn right now.”
The move comes amid growing concern in the NHS about the mammoth backlog of repair work needed on Britain’s crumbling hospitals.
Capital spending was excluded from the £20 billion bonanza announced by Theresa May last year.
NHS England chairman Lord Prior last month called for the Government to launch a £50 billion bond to pay for NHS infrastructure.
He argued that 40 per cent of NHS buildings were more than 30 years old and 18 per cent date back to before the NHS was founded in 1948.
The Chancellor has already promised Cabinet colleagues he is increasing spending for No Deal Brexit preparations.
He is expected to confirm that at least an extra £1 billion will be made available in an upcoming speech.
Insiders are looking at October 7 for a possible emergency budget.
Theresa May announced plans to pump an extra £20 billion a year into the NHS 12 months ago.
She said the plans would see the budget rise by an average of 3.4 per cent a year over the next five years. By 2023-2024 the extra cash would total more than £20 billion a year.
At the time, the PM said the investment would be funded partly by a “Brexit dividend” – and partly by tax hikes.
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