A funding proposal that would have seen the NHS and Social Care receive the funding experts say it needs has been blocked in the first Commons’ vote since Brexit.

Chesterfield MP, Toby Perkins, backed the proposal, which would have seen an additional £26bn of real term funding pumped into health services in England.

Toby said, “The proposals in the Government’s Queen’s Speech are only promising a 3.1% increase in funding for the NHS. This is less than what the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the NHS needs just to maintain services at the current level. And with the worst waiting times on record, thousands of people stuck on trolleys in A&E and patients struggling to secure GP appointments, this clearly isn’t enough.”

In a parliamentary procedure known as a ‘regret motion’, Labour MPs forced a vote to get parliament’s backing to fund the NHS by an additional four per cent a year and called for the Government to bring forward a plan to end the crisis in social care. The motion was voted down by the government.

Toby added, “This was the first non-Brexit vote since the General Election and I am pleased that Parliament is now moving on to other vital issues. It is very disappointing that the Tories have once again refused to provide the funding our NHS desperately needs. They made a lot of promises during the election campaign about investment and improving public services, but this first vote shows that we are going to have to force them to honour their commitments.”