THE TOWN'S MP has compared the NHS to a Ponzi scheme and said the Conservative party risked decline through "natural wastage".

Phillip Lee MP argued that society was set up in favour of older people and against those under 40 at a fringe meeting of the Conservative conference in Manchester on Monday.

The Justice Minister likened Britain's current situation to a Ponzi scheme, with working age people paying ever greater sums for pensions, health and social care consumed predominantly by the old, while being uncertain of receiving the same benefits in their own retirement.

A Ponzi scheme promises high returns for investors but generates returns using money from new investors, before collapsing when there is not enough money to go round.

He suggested a solution to the problem as he sees it could involve a shift from taxing work to taxing assets, which are disproportionately in the hands of older generations.

Dr Lee said: "You have to ask yourself the question, when confronted by significant liabilities that we currently can't meet, do we tax work or do we levy assets?

"It ain't more complicated than that, really. So, we have to find a way."

He went on to talk about the Conservative Party unpopularity with the young, which he attributed in part to a Tory focus on Brexit.

With younger voters less likely to back EU withdrawal the party must be "very, very careful" not to give the impression it is interested only in Brexit, Dr Lee said.

Tories could soon be confronted with the same issue recently identified by former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who said Leave would now lose a referendum because their elderly supporters were dying off and being replaced in electoral rolls by younger generations who did not share their opinions.

"Rather unpalatable, but I wonder actually, in 10 years time, because of natural wastage, whether we're going to be in a similar losing position," he said.

Polling showed that the majority of under-44s see the NHS as more important than Brexit.

"It's not good stuff is it, really?" he asked.

"If you think about it, it's all incredibly challenging. Now, how do we deal with that? First of all we need to properly engage. The last thing we need to do is to start coming out with policies that are just targeting particular groups."