By Chathushka Perera
LONDON, UK (CWBN)_ According to the British Medical Association (BMA), the National Health Service (NHS) is struggling with a budget deficit GBP 10 billion (USD 13.37 billion) that was prompted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a serious treatment backlog.
The union stated that it is expecting both short and long-term budget allocations from the ongoing spending review process in order to cover the deficit, subsequent to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s revelation that the NHS has been allocated just GBP 3 billion (USD 4.01 billion).
Although the British Government had promised to support the NHS with requirements, its ability to deliver on this promise is compromised given the “economic shock” suffered as a result of the pandemic.
Nonetheless, hopes for stronger government support are still holding as the review is yet to be finalized. It is expected that hospitals, educational institutions and prisons would carry the highest investment. Although, the foreign aid budget has been cut down by GBP 4 billion, as per the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), tax increase may yet be a possibility, especially in the long term.
A new tax scheme would likely incorporate a capital gains tax while excluding the tax benefits granted to high-wage pensioners.
“There’s an appropriate time to get public finances on a sustainable track” Sunak noted.
Moreover, the pay cheques of over 5 million public sector employees, including those of firemen, hospital porters and teaching assistants, were reportedly put at risk of a freeze, pending a review decision, although Sunak claimed that “You will not see austerity next week, what you will see is an increase in Government spending, on day-to-day public services, quite a significant one coming on the increase we had last year.”
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Labour MP, Annalise Dodds, urged Sunak not to go ahead with the freeze, noting that public sector workers should not be put in the position over Sunak’s “irresponsible choices”.
Adding to the accusations, Dodds said that she is concerned over the British economy’s post-pandemic recovery should Sunak go ahead with the freeze. “The British people shouldn’t have to pay the price for a government that doesn’t know the value of public money, splurging it on outsourced contracts to Tory-linked firms that don’t deliver.”
Edited by Elishya Perera
