BORIS JOHNSON has “misled the public” by claiming that his £1.8 billion NHS cash injection promise would be backed by new money, said experts, campaigners and the Labour Party today.

The Prime Minister has claimed that the funds represent “new money” for the service. Health Secretary Matt Hancock appeared on BBC and Sky News programmes this morning to say a “strong economy” and “record” job figures had allowed the Treasury to allocate “new money” to the NHS.

But both Labour and the Nuffield Trust health think tank contested the claims and argued that the government is simply drawing on money hospitals put into Treasury coffers through a cuts incentive.