It was one of the biggest pledges of the Leave campaign.
The Vote Leave camp said the £350m it claimed was spent weekly on EU membership could be better spent pumped back into our cash-strapped NHS.
It was emblazoned on the side of a big red Brexit battle bus that drove around the country campaigning for Britain to exit the EU.
This promise of a better-funded health service instead of sending money to Brussels was one of the key things many Brexit voters identified with.
But within hours of the Leave campaign’s historic victories, one of its figureheads has pretty much called bullshit on it.
Ukip Leader Nigel Farage went on ITV’s Good Morning Britain where he said this promise on the NHS had been a ‘mistake’.
Farage, who was actually part of the Leave EU campaign rather than the official Vote Leave movement, promptly disowned the pledge when asked if he could guarantee the NHS would get extra money.
“No I can’t [guarantee it], and I would never have made that claim. That was one of the mistakes that I think the Leave campaign made,” he said.
Interviewer Susanna Reid reminded him about the whole battle bus thing, be Farage replied: “It wasn’t one of my adverts – I can assure you! I think they made a mistake in doing that.
“We have a £10bn, £34m a day featherbed, that is going to be free money that we can spend on the NHS, on schools, on whatever it is.”
WATCH: @Nigel_Farage tells @susannareid100 it was a 'mistake' for Leave to claim there'd be £350M a week for NHShttps://t.co/JNkl5k8IlK
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 24, 2016
The Leave Campaign were repeatedly criticised for using the £350m statistic on the side of the bus, which was debunked as false and misleading by experts.
The number didn’t take into account Britain’s EU rebate or extra cash the country gets through EU grants for agriculture and regional development.
People weren’t best pleased about it on Twitter…
.@piersmorgan give Farage some stick .he is a liar he was the one who said the 350m per week will go to NHS
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) June 24, 2016
So there won't be an influx of cash for the NHS Farage backtracking is anyone surprised by this?
— Claudius Cicero (@CassiusNero99) June 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/TomSpilsbury/status/746230028841558018
So Farage admitting no pot of gold for NHS, Hannan backtracking on migration falling &billions wiped off UK economy. This is going well, eh?
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) June 24, 2016
£350m per week for NHS after #brexit promisewas a "mistake" according to Farage. Talk about misleading voters! Was proud to #voteremain 🇪🇺
— #hellomynameisemma (@ewrrll) June 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/niamhgilmoour/status/746244256570966016
https://twitter.com/shaunmcilroy/status/746242857770586116
