Scrapping non-dom tax loophole will fund 160,000 new NHS appointments, Anas Sarwar pledges

Scottish Labour would use the money raised from closing the non-dom tax loophole in the UK to slash NHS waiting lists in Scotland, Anas Sarwar will pledge.

The Scottish Labour leader will tell the party’s conference in Glasgow that the policy could fund 160,000 new NHS appointments a year.

Scottish Labour’s three-day conference begins on Friday at the Scottish Event Campus and will end on Sunday.

Keir Starmer said in October that £1.5bn raised by scrapping the loophole would go to funding more NHS appointments.

Scottish Labour said that would deliver an extra £134m for the Scottish Government in Barnett consequentials.

Sarwar will tell those attending the conference that any future Labour first minister would ringfence that money for the health budget.

Scottish Labour pointed to statistics that show around one in six Scots are on an NHS waiting list. iStock

He will promise to spend “every penny” of the cash on Scotland’s NHS with a focus on tackling waiting lists, with the money projected to generate the equivalent of 160,000 appointments for diagnostics and procedures each year.

He is expected to say: “Every Scottish seat matters, every Scottish vote matters because by voting Scottish Labour Scotland can be at the heart of the next UK Labour government.

“Scotland’s got a choice, and the SNP wants Scotland to settle for sending a message. Well, I want Scotland to send a government.”

Sarwar will say that “every single public institution has been left weaker” than when the SNP came to power 17 years ago, and there are now 830,000 Scots on waiting lists in the NHS.

He will add: “We will put fairness back at the heart of everything we do. That is why a UK Labour government will scrap the non-dom tax loophole.

“It means more money can be invested in nurses and consultants in our NHS. Right now, waiting times in Scotland are at a record level.

“Closing the non-dom tax loophole will deliver £134m every year in Barnett funding for Scotland.

“Today I commit a future Scottish Labour government to investing every penny of that in our NHS to increase capacity and drive down waiting lists.

“That will deliver the equivalent of 160,000 more NHS appointments every single year. That is what change means. That is why change matters.”