Starmer under fire after £100m hospices boost

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of giving with one hand and taking with the other” amid fears a 100m boost for hospices in England will be wiped out by Rachel Reeves’s national insurance hike.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

The prime minister’s official spokesman was unable to say whether the cash injection for hospices and palliative care charities would make up for the hit they face as a result of the chancellor’s Budget.

Shadow health minister Dr Caroline Johnson slammed Labour for having "the audacity" to make such a claim when "they are taking millions of pounds off hospices and palliative care charities”.

“Then they then think they should be grateful when they give them some of it back… This is socialism at its finest,” she added.

After the October Budget, hospice groups called for an exemption from the 2p employer national insurance increase, arguing it would pile unbearable pressure on an already stretched system.

While Hospice UK said the latest funding, which is for England only, would be “hugely welcome”, the end-of-life charity Marie Curie warned a one-off investment will not be enough to make the improvements needed.

Asked whether the extra money for the hospice sector would more than compensate for what they lose from national insurance increases, Sir Keir’s official spokesman said he would not “draw a kind of parallel”.

However, he said the funding would help to improve facilities to provide better quality care.

There are strict rules on what the £100m in capital funding can be used for, he noted.

“But clearly, by providing the biggest investment in hospices in a generation that also frees up pressures elsewhere in the hospice system,” he said.