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22 November 2017

Budget 2017: Philip Hammond just revealed he’s spending more on Brexit than the NHS

Welcome to the world of Brexit Britain. 

By Julia Rampen

In the Autumn Budget 2017, Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed he was putting aside an extra £3bn for Brexit costs, on top of the £700m already reserved.

That’s somewhat more than the £2.8bn extra cash promised for the NHS

Of that £2.8bn, Hammond boasted that he was providing £350m in funding for NHS trusts to deal with winter pressures (actually a rounded up £335m). But during the Brexit campaign, Leave supporters promised that after quitting the EU, the NHS could enjoy this kind of splurge every week.

The money for the NHS (which is only for England, as health is devolved) is designed to reduce waiting times to the actual expected performance target between now, and is expected to last until 2019-20. 

By contrast, when it came to Brexit, Hammond said he was prepared to “stand ready to allocate further sums and if and when needed”.

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