Health and care set to take centre stage of Liberal Democrat election campaign – as they launch…

Health and care will be ‘right at the centre’ of the Liberal Democrat manifesto when it launches today. Party leader Sir Ed Davey has said ‘the NHS and care needs a significant boost’ because it is ‘in a real crisis at the moment.’ He told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: ‘On the care policy – free personal care and making sure we have got more care workers by paying them properly – we have said we will reverse the Conservatives tax cut for big banks and that would raise £4.3 billion.’ The programme heard that among Liberal Democrat plans if they formed a government were providing 1,000 extra hospital beds which are fully staffed at an upfront cost of £280 million plus £400 million each year, which is on top of 8,000 new general practitioners and an unspecified amount to be spent on repairing hospitals.