£200 million down, £2.8 billion to go

From The Guardian...

If the government cut £1bn from the NHS budget, it would be on the front pages. Yet, this is in effect what it has done.

This is a reference to the government cutting the outrageously big 'public health' budget of three billion pounds by a modest 6.7 per cent* (£200 million). The Guardian is parroting the public health racket's line that taking money away from the nanny state industry will lead to bigger costs to taxpayers in the long run.

However, as I wrote at Spectator Health yesterday, this is poppycock. The government is saving the taxpayer £200 million, or not borrowing £200 million, or directing £200 million towards better uses (whichever way you want to look at it). Either way, it is a good thing. Cut deeper.

Every special interest group likes to imagine that government spending on their pet projects is an ‘investment’ that will pay off further down the line. Sometimes it is, but often it is not (hello, London Olympics). The truth about spending on ‘public health’ initiatives is that they waste money if they don’t work and they cost even more — in the long run — if they do.

Do read the whole post.


* UPDATE: Actually, just 6.2 per cent.