The NHS is on course to account for 38 per cent of all public service spending by 2023-24, up from 23 per cent in 2000

The national debt will increase unless taxes rise or the NHS is reformed to make it affordable, Moody’s has warned.

The £84 billion earmarked in the budget for the NHS for the next six years underlined the choices that the country must make because the escalating cost of healthcare would only “intensify the UK’s long-term fiscal pressures”, the credit ratings agency said.

Monday’s budget delivered the biggest fiscal relaxation in eight years as the chancellor found money to pay for the NHS giveaway. A big improvement in the underlying forecasts allowed Philip Hammond such generosity without causing the deficit to deteriorate.

Moody’s, which rates Britain as AA2, its third highest grade, said that the budget “does not change our credit view”. However, it warned about