Theresa May vows to use bumper ‘Brexit Dividend’ to fund £20billion NHS windfall

A BITTER row erupted as Theresa May vowed to use a bumper ‘Brexit Dividend’ to help fund the £20 billion NHS windfall.

The PM echoed Vote Leave’s controversial red bus campaign message from the Referendum by saying the “vast sums” saved by leaving the EU would be ploughed into the heath service. She refused to be more precise.

Boris Johnson – who promised an extra £350 million a week for the NHS during the Referendum - yesterday tweeted that the cash was “fantastic news”.

But Tory MP Sarah Wollaston described the PM’s words as “tosh” as economists poured scorn on the promise.

One expert pointed out that the UK only sends £13 billion to the EU each year, and some had already been earmarked to maintain agricultural support payments to farmers after Brexit.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was separately accused on Twitter of trying to make the NHS look more appealing so he could sell it off.

He said: “This is classic. The biggest single boost to funding in NHS history and someone still manages to find a reason why it is a secret privatisation plot.”