The Chancellor’s Spring Statement has given us a clear direction: fiscal stability enables investment in our public services. Yet, predictably, the Conservative Party has chosen to feign outrage – even posting attack ads – over one issue in particular—the impact of Employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on hospices.

Let’s be clear: the public supports using Employers’ NICs as a means to fund essential public services. Recent data shows that most people understand the need for responsible taxation to ensure our NHS, schools, and social care have the funding they require. It is therefore ludicrous that the very party responsible for the economic turmoil we are still recovering from has the audacity to attack a targeted and fair funding model.

One of the more troubling claims from Tory MPs has been their supposed concern about the impact of the NICs rise on children’s hospices. What they conveniently ignore is the reality: this Labour government has provided the largest investment in hospices in a generation, ensuring that any additional costs from NICs are offset by increased funding.

This year, an additional £100-million has been allocated to hospices, improving facilities, equipment, and accommodation. Furthermore, £26-million is being delivered through the Children’s Hospice Grant, ensuring that these vital services remain well-funded and able to support those who need them most. The Conservative Party had over a decade in government to prioritise this sector, yet it is only now—when they see an opportunity to score political points—that they claim to care.

What’s more, their outrage would carry more weight if it wasn’t their previous leader who was responsible for triggering a period of serious economic instability. Let’s not forget, Liz Truss and her catastrophic mini-budget sent mortgage rates soaring and obliterated the UK’s fiscal credibility. We are now rebuilding from the damage they inflicted, while ensuring our public services get the funding they need.

Beyond hospices, funding for GP practices will increase to over £11.9-billion in 2025/26—an increase of £357-million from the previous year. This commitment to strengthening primary care will make a real difference to the people of Cornwall, ensuring better access to GPs and improved local health services.

More broadly, this Government is driving efficiency across the board. We are reducing the cost of running Government by 15 per cent by the end of the decade, reducing the size of the Civil Service by 10,000, and abolishing the unnecessary quango NHS England, while investing £3.25-billion through a new Transformation Fund to reform and modernise public services. And unlike the previous government, which choked off investment with reckless cuts, we are increasing capital spending to support long-term economic prosperity.

In Cornwall, where access to high-quality healthcare and investment in infrastructure is crucial, these measures are all the more vital. The Conservatives can cry foul all they like, but the facts are clear: under Labour, public services are being strengthened.

There is still much to do. Last week, the four Cornish Labour MPs met with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting to raise the issue of fair funding – Cornish hospices, for example receive just around 10 per cent of their funding from local Integrated Care Boards, versus around 30 per cent nationally.

But people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. And when it comes to economic credibility and public service funding, the Tories’ glass house is in ruins.