David Cameron said on Thursday his Conservative Party would put more money into the National Health Service (NHS) if it were elected to power next year, according to Reuters. Seeking to persuade voters that his was the "party of the NHS", Cameron said a Conservative government would make "real-terms increases in NHS spending" and said the spending must be accompanied by reform, but gave no detail on figures. "Given the huge pressures faced by the NHS over the coming decades, that increase in spending alone is not enough," he said in a speech in Bolton, northwest England. "The gap between what we will have to do and what we can afford to do presents an urgent need for reform." The Conservatives, who are way ahead in opinion polls and expected to win an election likely to be called in the first half of next year, are keen to hit back at charges from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ruling Labour party that they will cut public services if they get into power. Economists say whichever party wins the next election will have to juggle a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes to cut the budget deficit, which is forecast to reach 175 billion pounds ($289.1 billion) this year -- more than 12 percent of GDP. Cameron re-iterated his party's determination to get "more for less" from public services and hit out at Labour for failing to recognise the impact of ballooning public debt on services. "The debt crisis means we need a new approach to public spending, to make sure we get more for less," he said, adding that while Labour had "done some good with the NHS", their time was now past. "They and their reforms have come to the end of the line," he said. "Our health service is crying out for the next stage of change." NHS managers published a report in June warning of a 15 billion pounds budget shortfall in the five years from 2011, triggering fears of job cuts, longer waiting times and further curbs on drug spending.
