Responding to the cross-party backing for Lib Dem policy, former health minister Norman Lamb said:

“If the prime minister is finally waking up to the fact that the NHS is desperately in need of more funding, then that is very welcome.

“However, waiting to deliver this money at the point Britain leaves the EU means that the NHS will have to struggle through another winter while chronically under-resourced. That means another winter of cancelled operations, patients stranded on trollies and ambulances queuing for hours outside A&Es.

“In the short-term, the Liberal Democrats have argued that we must raise vital extra revenue for the NHS and social care by putting up income tax by a penny in the pound. Looking further ahead, the Prime Minister must listen to the 98 MPs who have today called for a Parliamentary Commission to confront these long-term funding challenges on a collaborative basis.

“I am keen that the proposed commission should explore the case for a hypothecated NHS and Care Tax or Contribution. If we combined this with a periodic independent assessment of how much cash the system needs, then we could build public confidence and achieve sustainable funding of the NHS and the care system.”

Notes:

The Liberal Democrats are the only party proposing a ringfenced tax to provide a secure funding future. The Liberal Democrats support an immediate cash injection by putting an extra penny on each pound of income tax. Both polices formed part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto in 2017.

The Liberal Democrats convened an independent expert panel: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/libdems/pages/42341/attachments/original/1517573190/Health_and_Social_Care_report.pdf?1517573190