Jeremy Hunt today admitted the NHS is on the brink of collapse after 12 years of Tory rule.
The Chancellor warned “we’re all going to be paying a bit more tax,” as he unveils his Autumn Statement Budget on Thursday.
Reports suggest he will cut the £150,000 threshold for 45p tax to £125,000 to generate £1.3billion a year, and cut energy bills support from £60bn in the current six months to just £20bn in the six months afterwards.
But health leaders have demanded extra funds for the NHS amid record waiting times.
As nurses prepare for their first ever strike, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added: “Services are at breaking point while workers are struggling to make ends meet.
"The blame lies squarely with the Government. The Prime Minister should use the Budget to avert industrial action and fix the ongoing tragedy of underfunding across the NHS.”
Hunt was told by Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge that “Frankly this doesn't look like a health service that can find efficiency savings - this looks like a health service that is on the brink of collapse”.
The top Tory, a former Health Secretary and ex-chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, replied: “There are massive pressures in the NHS.
"Obviously it’s something I know very well from previous jobs I’ve done, and I think that doctors, nurses on the frontline are frankly under unbearable pressure, so I do recognise the picture you say.
"It’s also true there is a lot of money going into the NHS.”
NHS England figures showed a record 43,792 people waited longer than 12 hours in October, from a decision to admit to actually being admitted on to a ward.
These ‘trolley waits’ were up a staggering 34% from 32,776 in September - the highest since records began in 2010.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Public services are already on their knees - seven million people are waiting for an NHS operation or support.”
It came as Mr Hunt admitted he will be a “Scrooge” in his Autumn Statement on Thursday with no "rabbits out of the hat”.
He refused to deny it would mark a “return to austerity”, replying there will be “difficult decisions” and “we will be asking everyone for sacrifices”.
He warned he won’t be offering “motherhood and apple pie” or "cakeism" - an accusation he laid at Boris Johnson’s door.
The Chancellor is eyeing up £33bn a year of spending cuts and £21bn a year of tax rises by 2027 in a bid to balance the books.
Echoing George Osborne’s austerity rhetoric, he tried to claim the nation’s finances were like a family budget - despite the £2.4trillion national debt.
“We are going to see everyone paying more tax, we are going to see spending cuts”, he told the BBC.
Speaking to Sky he added: “Families have to make sure that in the end, they can pay their bills. They don't just max out on their credit card without having any way of repaying those debts. It's just the same for countries - and we have to do that.
“Because if we want to put more money into the NHS, if we want to help people who are going to find it very, very difficult this winter, then we need to have the resources to do that and that means we have to take difficult decisions even at moments like this.”
The Chancellor will slash back the Energy Price Guarantee - which limits average annual bills to £2,500 - from April after warning it is costing the same as “an entire second NHS”.
Today more details emerged of what that will cost Brits as it is limited to only the very most vulnerable.
The scheme is costing about £60bn between October and March, but the Sunday reports it may cost only £20bn in the six months afterwards.
Treasury officials have discussed the average bill going up from £2,500 to between £2,850 and £3,100.
That could mean a £600 rise on current bills, and a rise of nearly £2,000 a year since 2021.
Mr Hunt said: “We don't want anyone, not to be able to afford to heat their home over this winter or indeed future winters.
"But in the long run, what you need is a plan that means we don't need to have to give very, very expensive support as taxpayers.”
He added: “We need to recognise there's only so much you can ask from people on the very lowest incomes so that will be reflected in the decisions that I take.”
But he rejected striking nurses' demands for a 17% pay rise, which his Health Secretary blasted as "neither reasonable nor affordable".
Mr Hunt said: “I think we have to recognise a difficult truth that if we gave everyone inflation-proof pay rises, inflation would stay, we wouldn't bring down inflation.”
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said “it’s a badge of shame” that nurses are staging their first ever nationwide strike in England, but also refused to commit to a 17% pay rise.
She said "I’m not going to pluck numbers out of the air" and "it’s up to the pay review bodies to work with the unions", despite the fact the pay review bodies have already reported back and it's up to the government.
Ms Reeves said: “I don't believe that austerity 2.0 after the austerity that we've gone through for the last 12 years is the right approach.”
She said she would close tax loopholes on “big global multinationals” to bring in £7billion a year.
She also repeated Labour’s pledge to levy 45% capital gains tax on private equity fund managers instead of the current 28%.
