May 6, 2015 4.17 pm This story is over 106 months old

Ed Balls pledges £2.5bn cash injection for NHS in last Lincoln rally

Final push: Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls visited Labour supporters, promising an NHS cash injection and more doctors and nurses.

In the final day of general election canvassing before Lincoln electors flock to the polling stations, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls visited Labour supporters, promising an NHS cash injection and more doctors and nurses.

The Shadow Chancellor chose Lincoln as the final place for his pre-election campaign tour, pledging an extra £2.5 billion for the NHS if Labour forms the next government.

Labour MP candidate for Lincoln Lucy Rigby alongside her supporters at Grafton House. Photo: The Lincolnite

Labour MP candidate for Lincoln Lucy Rigby alongside her supporters at Grafton House. Photo: The Lincolnite

In his last interview before polling day, Balls told The Lincolnite the funds would come from a levy on the tobacco companies, from the tax on houses over £2 million and also from closing hedge fund tax loopholes.

He said: “Together those three measures, when they’re fully up and running, is £2.5bn and I want to make a start this year. I want to have a big cash injection. I want to start with the recruitment of nurses next week.

“We’ll get to 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more doctors over the next four years and that starts now.”

Ed Balls offered his support on the last day of campaigning. Photo: The Lincolnite

Ed Balls offered his support on the last day of campaigning. Photo: The Lincolnite

The Shadow Chancellor was on his way back to his own constituency of Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire, having visited the marginal constituencies of Stevenage and Peterborough earlier in the day.

He was joined by between 70 and 80 local party activists at the Lincoln Labour Club, and their candidate for the city, Lucy Rigby.

Photo: The Lincolnite

Photo: The Lincolnite

She said: “I don’t think the city’s previous MP Karl McCartney has been very good at doing surgeries, that’s what people have said to me. I want to be a particularly good constituency MP and that’s why I’m going to do at least twice the number of surgeries that Karl McCartney has done.”