Critics scoff at UK govt claim of Brexit spending dividend

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May says a 3.4 percent a year boost to health care funding will be partly paid for by a "Brexit dividend" of money saved by leaving the European Union.

Opponents are welcoming the extra spending but say claims of an economic boost from Brexit are false.

May said Monday that the cash-strapped National Health Service would receive 20.5 billion pounds ($27 billion) in extra funding by 2023-24.

She said some of the money would come from a "Brexit dividend" of "money we will no longer spend on our annual membership subscription to the European Union."

Yet the Royal College of Midwives chief executive Gill Walton said talk of a Brexit dividend was "misleading in the extreme" because "Brexit will cost us money, not save us anything."

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