Lib Dems pledge extra £2bn for mental health services

The Liberal Democrats would pump an extra £2.25 billion into mental health services in England by 2020 to reverse decades of "institutionalised indifference" to the issue, Nick Clegg has vowed.

The funding commitment - which comes top of the £1.25 billion announced in the coalition Government's last budget - will help introduce new waiting time standards and improve services for mothers suffering post-natal depression.

Announcing the Liberal Democrats' "Manifesto for the Mind", the Deputy Prime Minister said: "I hope by the end of the next parliament people really will see a major difference.

"But it's a journey which we have got to keep going on because it's having to reverse decades of underinvestment and decades of something close to institutionalised indifference if not discrimination against mental health in the NHS."

Mr Clegg said a story of a teenager's battle with anorexia in his constituency in Sheffield had had a "really searing impact" on him and prompted his desire to improve mental health care provision.