
It’s an ill wind that blows no good, and the tax increases in Wednesday’s budget, which the prime minister has said will be “painful”, will boost expenditure on the NHS and, possibly, profits for the firms that supply it.
Many readers of The Sunday Timeswill face bigger tax bills but investors could claw some back with funds and shares in healthcare.
For example, Wes Streeting, the secretary of state for health and social care, aims to increase prescriptions of weight-loss drugs to reduce obesity-linked illnesses that he claims cost the NHS £11 billion a year, or 8 per cent of its total expenditure. Streeting announced a five-year partnership with the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (stock market ticker: LLY) to see if its tirzepatide drugs, marketed