Steve Barclay was left squirming by Sophy Ridge as he failed to elucidate how the Tories pays for a significant NHS spending increase.
The Sky News presenter repeatedly requested the well being secretary the place the £2.4 billion to recruit hundreds extra medical doctors and nurses will come from.
Rishi Sunak unveiled the long-awaited NHS workforce plan on Friday.
Asked by Ridge how the federal government would discover the cash, Barclay would solely say it might be “through the Treasury” however refused to offer any specifics.
Ridge responded: “What does that mean though? Is that more money for your department or are you going to have to find it from existing NHS budgets or is it borrowing? Where is it coming from?”
In a rambling reply, Barclay mentioned: “This is additional money, it will be announced in the usual way through fiscal events.”
Ridge hit again: “I haven’t heard any new tax rises or spending cuts so I’m assuming it sounds prefer it have to be further borrowing.
″100 per cent of GDP – that the present stage of debt. Interest charges rising, so the price of servicing debt goes up – is that basically accountable?
“If Labour introduced a coverage of £2.4 billion with out saying the place that cash was coming from you’d be after them like a rocket.”
Barclay mentioned the coverage would additionally enhance the retention of NHS workers, thereby saving cash on hiring company staff.
