Rachel Reeves should put VAT on private healthcare in this autumn’s Budget to raise billions for the NHS, Neil Kinnock has said.

The former Labour leader said that removing the VAT exemption on private healthcare would provide “vital funding” for public services and be “widely supported” by the public.

If such a tax was structured to give private hospitals a carve out for any work they do for the NHS, it would still raise more than £2bn, an analysis suggests.

Reeves is spending her summer contemplating what taxes she will have to raise in the Budget . The hikes are needed to fill a hole in the public finances caused by weaker economic growth and U-turns on welfare reform and cuts to the winter fuel payments .

Her options have been limited by a promise in Labour’s general elec

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