‘Labour to provide £1bn NHS boost’

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy on an election campaign visit to Glasgow. Picture: John Devlin

The Scottish Labour leader hailed the creation of the National Health Service as his party’s “proudest achievement”.

He pledged a Labour government would bring in a mansion tax on homes worth more than £2 million, with the cash used to fund the NHS.

That money, the majority of which would be raised from properties in London and the South East of England, could bring in an extra £1 billion for the health service in Scotland, Mr Murphy claimed.

He told how Labour would put the future of the NHS at the heart of this election campaign as he revealed that ballot papers north of the border would highlight the party’s plans for “£1 billion more for Scotland’s NHS and a thousand extra nurses”.

Mr Murphy made the comments as he campaigned outside the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.

He told activists that Labour needed to win in May to “save the NHS from David Cameron”.

He said: “We’ve had times in government when we’ve had to rebuild the NHS, we had to win in 1997 to save the NHS from 18 years of Tory rule.

“We’re going to have to win again in May to rescue Scotland’s NHS from the threat of the Tories in London and the SNP in Edinburgh, both of whom pose a threat to Scotland’s NHS.”

He described the mansion tax as a levy “the Tories wouldn’t introduce and the SNP couldn’t introduce”.

Mr Murphy vowed: “Labour’s going to introduce a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2 million all across the UK and we’re going to use that money to invest in Scotland’s NHS.

“The first thing we’re going to do is invest in 1,000 more nurses, because there is a shortage of nurses, and that is a fair way of doing it, it’s a Labour way of doing it.

“The NHS is on the ballot paper on May 7 and Labour’s plan for £1 billion more for our NHS is on the ballot paper on May 7.”

He said the levy on the most expensive properties was a “remarkable way” of raising funds for the service, adding: “It is a redistribution from those who have the most, those who live in houses worth over £2 million.

“Most of those houses aren’t in Clydebank, most of those houses aren’t even in Scotland. Most of those houses are in London and the South East of England.”

Mr Murphy claimed a third of homes the mansion tax would be levied on were in one parliamentary constituency - London’s Kensington and Chelsea.

“It’s a massive redistribution of money out of London and the South East into Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee, communities all outside the South East of England,” he said.

‘Labour to provide £1bn NHS boost’ - Jim Murphy