
It's a year on from the Brexit vote, and it's time to get real. During his last Autumn Statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond conceded Brexit would blow a £59 billion black hole in public finances.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) announced at the time that there would be a cumulative £122 billion of extra borrowing over the next five years, £59 billion of which will occur as a direct result of the vote to leave the EU.
Hammond told the House of Commons:
[Brexit] makes more urgent than ever the need to tackle our economy’s long-term weaknesses, like the productivity gap, the housing challenge, and the damaging imbalance in economic growth and prosperity across our country.
The reaction to the £58.7 billion news was predictable.
Brexit means....billions more debt. https://t.co/YwbPqqCKmy— Brexit Update (@Brexit Update) 1479976718
The cost of #Brexit is £122bn over next 5 years. So where's the mythical £350m per week for the NHS coming from? https://t.co/uUST9yNTvS— James Melville (@James Melville) 1479975060
Conservative Brexit MPs appear to be objecting to independent financial forecasting being based on facts instead of patriotic hope.— Andy Wootton (@Andy Wootton) 1479972130
One line stuck out above all:
'Brexit will cost £58.7bn. Let's spend it on the NHS instead.'— Ian Dunt (@Ian Dunt) 1479913913
@IanDunt Stick that on a bus!— Laura Marcus🐐 (@Laura Marcus🐐) 1479913930
So we did.
Today @ev_bartlett commissioned me to photoshop the Vote Leave battlebus. I like this one better. https://t.co/HnV5OY08hS— Louis Doré (@Louis Doré) 1479981245
And we weren't the only ones:
Britain is paying over £350 million a week for Brexit #AutumnStatement https://t.co/6ef3TXYtJD— European Movement UK (@European Movement UK) 1479908262
The NHS was mentioned twice in the statement:
The government, Mr Speaker, has pledged to invest in our NHS and we are delivering on that promise: backing the NHS’ Five Year Forward View plan for the future with £10 billion of additional funding a year by the end of 2020-21.
The Health Select Committee has said that the government's extra funding for health is actually £4.5 billion rather than £10 billion, and FullFact agrees with their conclusion:
Overall health spending will increase by £4.5 billion, after you take inflation into account. The £10 billion includes an extra year of spending and only refers to the NHS England budget rather than wider health spending.
The £10 billion figure is calculated over six years, counting a year's worth of money that has already been spent in a previous parliament.
Brexit means Brexit.