Claim

Nicola Sturgeon has said a key SNP demand in any post-election coalition talks with Labour is that the next UK government must raise NHS spending in England to Scottish levels, which are currently £136 a head higher. The SNP says that would mean £35bn extra in day-to-day NHS spending in England by 2023/24 compared to this year – more than any other party proposes.

Background

Every party boasts it will increase NHS spending but this is an audacious policy. Health policy in Scotland is totally devolved to Holyrood and the SNP has no remit over the NHS in England. Historically, Scotland has spent more on health than the rest of the UK because it has a far more dispersed rural population, many islands to service and higher rates of ill-health.

Sturgeon argues this extra English spending is justified to rectify the impacts of past austerity policies and, because Scottish funding is derived in part by how much is spent on the NHS in England, her government will get £4bn more from the Treasury in 2023/24.

Reality

Ben Zaranko, an analyst at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, says Labour plans to raise day-to-day NHS spending in England by £31.2bn by 2023/24; the Tories by £28.6bn and the Lib Dems by £30.5bn.

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The SNP claims its plans would mean total English day-to-day NHS spending of £159.2bn in 2023/24. The IFS has different calculations. It says that Labour plans means the English NHS will have £154.9bn to spend in 2023/24 compared to £158.7bn under the SNP’s plans. That £3.8bn is a relatively small increase of 2.45%.

Verdict

Sturgeon is right that the SNP’s proposals means higher NHS spending than the other parties propose. But the effects are not as great as the headline figure suggests and by 2023/24, NHS spending targets are almost certain to change as time goes on.