The Manx Labour Party has called on the government to fund the island’s health and social care system as set down by the Sir Jonathan Michael review.
Leader Joney Faragher is a political member of the DHSC and has joined Minister Lawrie Hooper in saying the service needs to be funded as Tynwald originally agreed.
In a post on Facebook, the party said that funding formula “has not been adhered to by the Treasury”.
It added: “In effect, Manx Care were tasked with delivering substantial transformation and improvement, but were not adequately funded to do so.
“Whilst Treasury did increase the budget in 2024, this still didn’t bring it in line with the funding formula that Sir Jonathan Michael recommended.”
Taxes
To pay for the health service, the MLP has said it will “strongly resist introducing charges or cutting services”.
Though that comes after Manx Care announced it was going to cut back on some surgeries in the winter months.
The party said: “In terms of raising revenue, our government and Treasury department need to start thinking outside of the fixed mindset of taxing workers. Workers are taxed enough.
“The Future Economic Strategy states that we should reduce inequality by using the taxation system – so far we do not seem to be moving on this at all.
“With additional taxation placed on workers, whilst the tax thresholds remained untouched in the last budget, all we have done is widen the gap and place an unequal burden on working people.”
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