Cameron says the NHS is top Priority but lets not forget what the Tories did in power and promised in 2005

10.56.53am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 5th Oct 2006

Conservative Leader David Cameron has said the NHS is safe his hands as he brought the Conservative conference to an end this afternoon. He accused Labour of mismanaging the health service and said he would be taking to the streets with a campaign to stop the cuts.

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP said "On the NHS, we need to remember that health spending actually fell in the last year the Tories were in power and that at the general election, David Cameron supported the introduction of a 'patient passport' to encourage people to opt out of the NHS. What this week has shown is that the Conservatives remain vacuous, about spin rather than substance, and are becoming more divided and confused by the day."

The Conservative record on health

They ran down the NHS when in government. House of Commons Library figures show that in their last year in office the Tories actually cut real spending on the NHS (annual % increase in real terms 1996/7: -0.2%).

They voted against investment in the NHS. During the last Parliament, the Government increased the rate of NI Contributions to put extra money into the NHS. Lib Dem MPs supported the move, but the Conservatives, including David Cameron, voted against. If they had had their way, the NHS would have been deprived of around £8 billion per year - or roughly 10% of its entire budget.

They proposed paying rich people to 'opt out' of the NHS. Only last year, Cameron himself wrote a Tory manifesto that proposed a 'patient passport' scheme, where people who could afford to pay for half of their treatment would have the rest paid for by the Government, allowing them to opt out of the NHS. This would have meant even less money to spend on healthcare for the majority of people who cannot afford to opt out.