LABOUR’S Parliamentary candidate for Stroud David Drew has welcomed Ed Miliband’s pledge of an extra £2.5 billion to help fund the NHS.

The Labour leader made the promise during his speech at the party’s annual conference in Manchester yesterday and said it would be paid for through a ‘mansion tax’ on homes worth over £2 million and by imposing a levy on big tobacco firms.

Mr Drew said the additional cash for the NHS, which would also be generated via a crackdown on tax avoidance by multinational companies, was ‘absolutely essential’.

“The NHS is the big issue. It is being privatised before our eyes and it has a got a real funding crisis so we have to do something to stop that,” he said.

“Protecting the NHS is obviously at the front and centre of our campaign but that is where it should be.

“You have to find ways of funding it and in my opinion the mansion tax and the cigarette tax, along with a clampdown on tax evasion and tax avoidance, are a good way of doing it.”

Mr Drew decided against making the journey up north for this year’s party conference – allowing other local members to take up the five places on offer to Stroud Labour Party for the event and choosing instead to focus on research for his PhD and his duties as a local councillor, which included attending a well-publicised planning meeting into proposals for a new supermarket last night.

However, the veteran Labour politician, who served as Stroud’s MP for three terms between 1997 and 2010, did take time out to tune in to his leader’s speech on television, describing it as ‘generally pretty good’.

Mr Drew said he was particularly pleased with Ed Miliband’s announcements on raising the minimum wage, increasing the number of apprenticeships, building more homes and creating a million new jobs in the green technology and renewable energy industries.

But, as a self-declared Eurosceptic he said he was disappointed that there was no promise of a referendum on the EU.

“I think that is something which is missing from our policy and if I’m elected I will be vocal in calling for that,” he said.

Labour’s parliamentary hopeful also shied away from criticising his party leader for forgetting key sections of his 80-minute speech, which was delivered entirely from memory.

“He did forget to mention the deficit, but that has meant he’s probably talked about it far more than he otherwise would’ve done with all the interviews he’s given.

“We do recognise that we are in tough times at the moment and that we’re going to be restricted by that.

“It is worth remembering that Ed did say Labour would not borrow a single penny to fund more spending.”