Boris Johnson and Donald Trump at the UN in New York Kevin Lamarque/ReutersBoris Johnson was under intensifying pressure for reviving the Leave campaign’s controversial promise to spend £350 million a week on the NHS after Brexit as a think tank accused him of contradicting government figures. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, the leading economic research organisation, joined the official statistics watchdog in questioning the foreign secretary’s claim that there would be more money for public services after Brexit. Carl Emmerson, the institute’s deputy director, said the government’s own economic forecasts for the post-Brexit period “contain an allowance of almost £250 million per week — not £350 million — for funding that could in principle go to the NHS rather than the EU”. This would leave nothing for other sectors such as agriculture that now get EU funds.…

Source: The Times September 18, 2017 23:06 UTC