The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:9 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 18:57 cYanmaGentaYellowblac

• The Observer
  News 04.08.19 9

Johnson

promises

£1.8bn for

hospitals

upgrade

Thinktank claims cash

may not cover PM’s

earlier NHS pledge

Michael Savage

Policy Editor

Pro-Brexit

Tory MP Zac

Goldsmith won

Richmond, above

right, by just 45

votes. EPA

Boris Johnson is

trying to build a

domestic agenda

beyond Brexit.

ON

OTHER

PAGES

Johnson’s fi rst

week as PM:

boos, leaks,

snubs and

fl oods

Focus, pages

32-

Heidi Allen:

Forget party

lines. It’s time

to unite

Focus, page 33

Boris Johnson is to inject £1.8bn

into the NHS as part of his pledge

to upgrade 20 hospitals across the

country, it has emerged.

The new prime minister has used

a boost in health funding as part

of an attempt to build a domestic

agenda beyond Brexit, with his team

well aware that they could be forced

into an election this year. But experts

have already warned that the fund

may not be enough even to cover

the upgrades Johnson has already

promised.

Full details of the plan are set to be

revealed tomorrow , but it is under-

stood the new funds will be directed

straight to the front line for new beds

and updated equipment. It is also set

to include upgrades to wards and

some building repairs.

The money is set to be made availa-

ble immediately, though Downing St

has not revealed where it will come

from. Johnson has already made

clear he is willing to spend

more money on public ser-

vices, using the so-called

“fiscal headroom” cre-

ated by the previous gov-

ernment’s spending plan.

The headroom was sup-

posed to help the economy

in the event of a no-deal

Brexit.

A source said: “The prime min-

ister has been clear since day one that

the NHS is a top priority. This money

will be felt by frontline services, by the

doctors and nurses whose hard work

is invaluable, and by the patients they

care for.”

The Vote Leave campaign contro-

versially argued that funds sent to the

EU would be used to fund the NHS

instead. Dominic Cummings, the

Vote Leave strategy chief now over-

seeing Johnson’s Downing St plans,

said such a pledge should have been

one of the government’s fi rst moves

after the Brexit vote.

Researchers at the Nuffi eld Trust

thinktank have suggested that

Johnson’s promise to upgrade 20

hospitals would cost at least £3.2bn.

“Based on the conservative £160m

cost estimate per trust, the total cost

for upgrading all NHS services would

be around £33bn,” tweeted Sally

Gainsbury , a senior policy analyst at

the trust.

use it to ask the British for a mandate

to take the country out without a deal.

Johnson’s Commons majority was

cut to one last Thursday when the Lib

Dem s ousted the sitting Tory MP in

the Brecon and Radnorshire byelec-

tion. The Lib Dems were helped by the

Greens and Plaid Cymru, who did not

put up candidates so as not to split the

Remain vote.

While similar Remain alliances are

likely to be formed in some areas at a

general election, neither Labour nor

the SNP is prepared to stand down

candidates, meaning such agree-

ments will be limited in number, and

decided informally.

repeated, they are likely to be few

and informal. Under Jeremy Corbyn,

Labour does not want to call itself a

Remain party and anyway would not

be keen to stand down candidates in

a way that would undermine its posi-

tion as a national party.

The new Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson

said after her party’s by election tri-

umph that she would look at more

alliances in other areas, but has also

made clear she will not work with

Labour. The Lib Dems could well step

aside in Brighton Pavilion, the seat

held by the sole Green MP Caroline

Lucas, and in Dwyfor Meirionnydd ,

held by Plaid’s Liz Saville-Roberts.

But with the party now believing

it is on the up again, the Lib Dems

will want to fi ght wherever it believes

it can be the main anti-Brexit force.

In Scotland the pro-Remain SNP is

the dominant party, anyway. What

is becoming increasingly clear,

however, is that whether local alli-

ances are formed or not, voters

with strong views on Brexit will be

encouraged to vote tactically at any

early general election – more so than

ever before. In other words, while the

parties may be unwilling to commit,

the voters may take matters into their

own hands.

Today the People’s Vote campaign

reveals plans to target about 100

marginal seats across the country

in which it will tell Remain voters

to back pro-referendum MPs, from

whatever party, who are under threat

from pro-Brexit Tories or Brexit party

candidates – and candidates in favour

of a second public vote who could

realistically replace a pro-Brexit MP.

As it prepares its “PV 100”

campaign, an offi cial People’s Vote

briefi ng note says that “tactical vot-

ing will be a bigger factor than in any

previous election in the UK.”

The campaign is to focus on

marginal seats where it believes

tactical voting could make the

difference, setting up local campaign

groups and digital targeting to

identify key voters.

People who back another

referendum will be encouraged

where necessary to vote for a party

they would never normally back.

“In some cases we will be asking

Labour supporters to vote for other

parties such as the Liberal Democrats.

In many others we will be asking

supporters of the Liberal Democrats,

the Greens or others to vote Labour,”

the documents say.

“This is based on nothing more

than the hard-headed acknowledge-

ment of which party is best placed to

beat an opponent of the People’s Vote.

In marginal seats where the Labour

candidate does not support a people’s

vote on any Brexit outcome, we will

not give them our backing.”

Back in Richmond, Monica

Saunders, a Green councillor, says

her local party is debating whether

it should stand candidates against

the Lib Dems at a general election,

or withdraw and agree a Remain

alliance.

Whether it does or does not, she

thinks Remain supporters will work

together in non-partisan ways to

try to oust Goldsmith. “Whatever

happens here, you can be sure there

will certainly be a lot of tactical

voting,” she says.

Seats where the local Tory MP is

a Brexiter with a narrow majority,

possibly including:

 Richmond Park where

Zac Goldsmith has a majority of

45 over the Lib Dems

 St Ives where Derek Th omas has

a majority of 312 over the Lib Dems

 Pudsey (Yorkshire) where Stuart

Andrew has a majority of 331 over

Labour

 Chipping Barnet where Th eresa

Villiers has a majority of 353 over

Labour

 Chingford & Woodford Green

where Tory former leader Iain

Duncan Smith has a majority of

2,438 over Labour

 City of London and Westminster

where Mark Field has a majority of

3, 148 over Labour

 Cheadle where Mary Robinson

has a majority of 4, 507 over Lib

Dems

 St Albans where Anne Main has a

majority of 6, 109 over the Lib Dems

Seats where a pro-referendum MP

faces a Brexiter threat:

 Canterbury where Rosie Duffi eld

(Labour) has a majority of 187

 Oxford West where Layla Moran

(Lib Dem) has a majority of 816

 Wrexham where Ian Lucas

(Labour) has a majority of 1, 832

 Dwyfor Meirionnydd where Liz

Saville- Roberts (Plaid Cymru) has a

majority of 4, 850

The seats in their sights

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