THE health secretary Sajid Javid has defended tax rises introduced by the Government, claiming that the extra cash will help resolve NHS backlogs for cancer treatment.
He said it would not be economically sensible to continue borrowing money after £400 billion of additional borrowing was needed by the Government to cover the costs of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Javid told GB News that part of the problem with cancer care is that people who suspected they may have the disease avoided the NHS out of fear of contracting Covid in hospital.
“This new money will go a long way into improving cancer care as well, of course it will, I mean cancer care, it remains a priority for the NHS, and rightly so,” he said.
“It was hit very hard during the pandemic, not in terms of just the care the NHS could provide was focusing on Covid patients but sadly many people stayed away from the NHS when ordinarily they would have come forward with maybe some concerns that they might have cancer.
“They didn’t get the regular checkups in the way that they should and that’s been a huge cost for society and that’s not something that anyone wants to see again.”
The Health Secretary made his comments during Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel on GB News this morning.
He added that it would be wrong to borrow more and avoid tax rises as it would mean future generations paying the cost
He said: “We’ve had the pandemic…it meant an additional £400 billion of borrowing. That’s money that’s going to have to be paid back over the coming years.
“And it is not economically, it is not sensible just to continue borrowing and borrowing. We’re still running a deficit…I think the best way to help people out of poverty in difficult circumstances is to have an economy that’s growing.
“That’s creating jobs with record low unemployment and of course the alternative way is if we didn’t tax and went for that borrowing is that it would be also morally wrong as well because it would mean that we will be asking our children and our grandchildren to pay for our health care and our our care costs in old age – I mean, how can that possibly be right?”
