Michael Gove demands that Theresa May spend a £32 billion ‘Brexit dividend’ on the NHS
The Tory big-hitter is leading a group of MPs who say official forecasts proved them right and there will be net £200 million lump sums every week
MICHAEL Gove reignited the bitter Referendum war today by demanding Theresa May spend a £32 billion ‘Brexit dividend’ on the NHS every year.
The Tory big-hitter is leading a group of MPs who say official forecasts from Office of Budget Responsibility have proved them right and there will be net £200 million lump sums every week for the government to spend as they choose.
But it falls short of Vote Leave’s £350 million figure emblazoned on the side of their campaign bus.
The OBR revealed on Wednesday that the UK will save between £10 billion and £10.9 billion a year between 2019 and 2022 once we our EU exit completes.
The small print of their latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook reveals the funds are already earmarked to send to Brussels, but Brexit backers want the cash diverted to the health service instead.
The Treasury oversight body suggests this money will be transferred into domestic spending.
The Change Britain group have branded it a “Brexit Dividend”, and 13 MPs including Mr Gove, Labour’s Gisela Stuart and top Tory Steve Baker repeated their referendum pledge that the NHS should benefit.
In a joint statement released today they said: “The OBR has revealed that the British people will get back over £10 billion net a year once we leave the EU.
“We believe that this Brexit dividend should be spent on our priorities - the most important of which is our NHS.”
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They went on: “When we leave the EU we will be able to take back control of the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money we send to Brussels each year.
Vote Leave’s claims during the referendum that Britain could “take back control” of £350 million every week have been a sore point for Remain backers.
Brexiteers campaigned under the slogan: “We send the EU £350 million a week - let’s fund our NHS instead.”
But it sparked fury as it only took into account the gross £16 billion figure of the UK’s EU contribution and ignored what the UK took back in subsidies.
Now reigniting the row, the leading Leave supporters are today claiming that the net figure still gives them hundreds of millions and the government should use this to help the cash-strapped NHS.
In September Theresa May refused to endorse the Leave campaign pledge to increase NHS funding after Brexit.
And Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the idea there would be extra cash was “hotly debated.”
