A Very Big ‘If’

Civitas, 23 June 2009

Since 1999, the size of the NHS workforce has increased by 29 per cent. One in every 19 people in Britain now works for it.

A chief architect of that increase is Ed Balls, between 1990 and 2004 chief economic adviser to Gordon Brown. Last week in  a widely reported radio interview, Mr Balls said: “If we can get the economy right – as I believe we are doing – I think we can see spending rising on health and schools in real terms after 2011.”

Since public borrowing increased last month by more than it has ever done since monthly figures began, this seems a very big ‘if’.