A Labour government would accelerate extra investment into the National Health Service by promising £6bn more than the funding pledged by the Conservative government last year.
Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge of a £26bn real-terms funding boost would allow the party to claim that it would outspend the Tories on health, a key battleground in any UK general election.
Theresa May last year announced that the government would spend £20.5bn more on NHS England by 2023/24 compared to 2018/19.
Mr Corbyn’s new promise would amount to a 4.3 per cent annual funding increase over the next four years, compared to current spending, against a Tory pledge of a 3.4 per cent increase.
The Conservatives will hit back, claiming that Labour’s policy of a 32-hour week would undermine any extra spending by forcing the NHS to spend up to £6bn on wages for extra staff. But that claim is based on a compulsory 32-hour week, while Labour has said the adoption of shorter working would be voluntary even in the public sector.
Labour’s fresh spending pledge would take the total health budget to £178bn a year and would be funded through an increase in corporation tax that has already been announced by Labour.
The policy will be unveiled on Wednesday by Jonathan Ashworth, shadow health secretary, and shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who will argue that the NHS is heading into a difficult winter with hospitals already reporting “black alerts”, for example elderly patients languishing on trolleys.
Mr McDonnell will also repeat Labour’s pledge to end private involvement in the NHS to free up funding for healthcare.
Billing the policy an “NHS Rescue Plan”, the party will also promise extra money for mental health infrastructure, overhauling the primary care estate and increasing the number of CT and MRI scanners.
There would be an additional £15bn increase in capital budgets spread over five years, which would be paid for from borrowing.
At the same time, Labour will commit to restoring a training bursary for nurses to help recruit 24,000 extra nurses.
Anita Charlesworth, director of research at the Health Foundation, said the uplift would see health spending rise at a faster rate than any previous government over the history of the NHS, with one exception: health spending grew by 6 per cent a year under the premierships of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust think-tank, said the new money proposed by Labour “would mean the NHS could breathe a sigh of relief”.
A 4 per cent increase a year would “make a big difference compared to the 1.4 per cent average the NHS had grown used to in recent years” and it would be enough to get most waiting times back on track, he said.
The extra money for investment in building and equipment “is desperately needed and it is particularly encouraging to see some of this go towards general practice”, he added. However, “tough decisions” would still have to be made, he said.
Mr Edwards also cautioned that although Labour’s promise of “ending privatisation” would appeal to many, “stopping the NHS from funding private procedures will not actually save much money as private companies and NHS trusts get paid the same price per operation”.
Analysis by the Health Foundation found that the annual 3.4 per cent increase promised by the Tories would help stem further decline in the health service, but would be insufficient “to address the fundamental challenges facing the NHS, or fund essential improvements to services that are flagging”.
