David Cameron has accused senior Brexit campaigners of “writing cheques they know will bounce” for claiming that leaving the EU would allow the government to pump £100m more a week into the NHS by 2020.
In a joint statement, Vote Leave campaigners Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Labour’s Gisela Stuart said quitting the EU would provide a “cash transfusion” into the NHS.
Greg Hands, chief secretary to the Treasury, said the Vote Leave statement was “dishonest” and that any money saved by quitting the EU would be lost in an economic downturn.
“Doctors and nurses want to stay in Europe because they understand that quitting the single market would damage the NHS by shrinking the economy,” he said. “It is totally dishonest to pretend there would be more to spend on the NHS when all credible economists agree we’d have billions of pounds less.”
In tweets on Saturday morning, the prime minister said the Vote Leave campaign was “writing cheques they know will bounce. 9/10 economists say there’ll be a profound shock if we leave the EU. That means there will be less money - not more. It’s also why so many doctors and nurses support remaining in the EU.”
1/2 The Leave campaign is writing cheques they know will bounce. 9/10 economists say there'll be a profound shock if we leave the EU.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 4, 2016
2/2 That means there will be less money - not more. It's also why so many doctors and nurses support remaining in the EU. #StrongerIn.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 4, 2016
The official pledge from Vote Leave came after Gove represented the Brexit campaign in a Sky News interview by Faisal Islam, the channel’s political editor. Cameron had faced a similar grilling from Islam 24 hours earlier.
Pressed to make a firm commitment on the UK’s post-Brexit finances, Gove said: “By 2020, we can give the NHS a £100m per week cash injection. And we can ensure that the wealthy interests that have rigged the EU rules in their favour at last pay their fair share.”
Opponents criticised Gove’s performance for lacking detail of Britain’s future after a leave vote. Labour’s Stella Creasy said: “Michael Gove took what I would call a very Marxist approach to this, as in Groucho Marx, who used to say ‘here are my opinions, if you don’t like them I have others’. It was extraordinary. There was no detail there.”
Vote Leave said the new NHS cash would be diverted from Britain’s current contribution to the EU of £350m a week, though this figure is highly disputed figure and does not account for Britain’s rebate or EU investment in UK projects such as science or agriculture.
Leave campaigners say the rebate is not guaranteed and puts control of the money in the hands of Brussels rather than Westminster.
During the fiery interview on Sky News, Gove said he was happy to have the £350m figure independently audited after Islam accused him of importing Donald Trump-style campaigning “to the mother of all parliaments”.
Gove replied: “I think it is wrong of you to say that people who want our democracy restored and believe Britain should be a self-governing nation are people who are following in the footsteps of Donald Trump.”
The justice secretary admitted he could not name any independent economic authorities that backed Brexit; the Bank of England, the IMF and the OECD are all backing a remain vote.
“I am glad that all these organisations are not on my side,” Gove said. “The organisations that many people are citing in this debate are organisations that have been wrong in the past and I think they are wrong now.”
“It is that sort of sneering condescension towards people who believe in democracy that discredits those on the remain side of the campaign.”
Audience members at the Sky debate also challenged Vote Leave’s £350m a week figure, while one called the campaign “Project Lies”.
“We can’t count on that rebate,” Gove said. “That rebate is decided by other countries, it’s not up to us. That rebate can be whittled away. I fear that if we vote to remain, that rebate will be reduced further.”
Meanwhile, Johnson claimed that some 300,000 new jobs would be created if Britain left the EU, he told a leave rally at London’s Olympic Park on Saturday.
“If we vote leave we will be able to forge bold new trade deals with growing economies around the world. These are deals that the EU has tried and failed to achieve due to protectionist forces in Europe,” he said. “After we liberate ourselves from the shackles of Brussels we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs right across the UK.”
“Predictably the gloomsters want to do down Britain - they claim we are not strong enough to stand on our own two feet. What total tosh. There is a huge world of opportunity and prosperity out there if we take this opportunity to take back control.”
