Liberal Democrats in Walsall have accused the Conservative Government of being less than honest when they claim that they will be putting an extra £10bn into NHS England over the next five years.

Liberal Democrat Health and Wellbeing spokesperson for the borough Cllr Ian Shires said:

“It has emerged that the NHS across the Black Country and Birmingham West alone faces a £512m gap in funding which ignores a funding gap of £188m for Social Care services provided by local authorities across the area.

Taking the fight to Westminster Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Norman Lamb said:

“The Health Select Committee is right to call out the Government on false claims about their investment in the NHS. Services are desperately in need of the money they were promised.

“This also ignores the bigger question of how we ensure health and care is sustainable in the long term, as demand for services continues to rise.

“I have called for the establishment of an independent, cross-party commission to reform the funding settlement across health and care. He went on to say “The Liberal Democrats have set up an expert panel which will advise on how the additional funding the NHS really needs can be delivered including whether a dedicated Health and Care Tax should be introduced to help guarantee the future of the NHS and vital care services.”