'The money saved from leaving the EU will result in the NHS getting £350m a week'

One of the most prominent claims made by the Leave campaign was that the UK would take back £350m a week once it had left the EU – with the sum going to the NHS.

The UK Statistics Authority has since said this was a “clear misuse of official statistics” – most notably because the figure did not take into account the money the UK gets back from the EU after paying into the budget.

After taking into account the rebate, the figure is believed to be closer to £250m but the question remains whether the money will actually go the NHS.

On the day after the Brexit referendum result, Nigel Farage, who had been more closely associated with the Leave.EU campaign than Vote Leave, disowned the pledge saying it was “one of the mistakes” that had been made by those wanting us out of the bloc.

A poll by Ipsos MORI published in June 2016 found that nearly half the British public believed the claim.

Two years on and Theresa May has now pledged additional funding for the NHS and has said the extra money will come, in part, from a “Brexit dividend”.

Under the plans, the NHS budget will increase by £20.5bn by 2023, and the government has said this will be funded through a combination of tax rises, economic growth and money no longer sent to Brussels.