Downing Street 'Leant On' NHS Boss Over Funding

Downing Street "leant on" the NHS England chief to get him to reduce the amount of funding he said the health service would need, a former Liberal Democrat minister has said. David Laws said Simon Stevens was told by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor that unless he revised down his request for £15bn to run the NHS properly it would be "discredited". He said that Mr Stevens was told to find more money in "efficiency savings" and bring the figure down to £8bn, which he did.