A new party political broadcast from Labour targets what it says is the underfunding of the NHS - ahead of two by-elections that will be seen as a crucial test for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
The video released this afternoon shows a woman walking around an empty hospital warning the health service is at risk from the “reckless neglect” of Theresa May’s government. “The NHS was created to are for us, now the NHS needs our care,” she says.
The prime minister has been under pressure over what the Red Cross said was a “humanitarian crisis” in the NHS.
The advert also attacks Conservative Brexit campaigners for their infamous referendum promise to spend £350m on the health service.
Corbyn said “despite the pledge of an extra £350 million a week plastered across Boris Johnson’s bus, the government has refused to provide the NHS with the funding it desperately needs.
“Theresa May and her government’s priorities are clear: tax giveaways to the wealthiest and big business rather than funding our health service. By 2022, the Conservatives will have handed the wealthiest £70 billion in tax cuts - money that could be invested in our NHS.
“A Labour government would deliver our NHS the funding it needs. Big business and the banks would pay its fair share of tax, we would clamp down on tax dodgers, and we would ensure that the Brexit negotiations put jobs and living standards in Britain first.”
Labour is facing two by-elections after a pair of MPs announced they would be quitting parliament. And in Stoke, the party is being urged by some to focus on the health service to see off the threat from Ukip.