Sir Keir Starmer accused of using ‘blinkered left-wing ideology’ for refusing private healthcare when most Labour voters would use it
- Labor leader insisted NHS ‘runs through my DNA’ and will not use private care
- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on the other hand, said he would go private if necessary
- A YouGov poll found that 72 percent of Labor voters would use private if they could
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of a ‘blind leftist ideology’ for refusing to use private health care when even most Work supporters would do that.
Stressing that healthcare ‘runs through my DNA’, he said: ‘I don’t use private healthcare – I use the NHS.’
Last week’s comments ITV election debate, as opposed to Rishi Sunak‘s statement that he would go private if necessary.
A YouGov poll yesterday found that 72 percent of Labor Party supporters would use the private sector to avoid long waiting lists if they could afford it.
Only 16 percent of Labor voters shared Sir Keir’s views.
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of ‘blind left-wing ideology’ for refusing to use private healthcare when even most Labor supporters would
The comments during last week’s ITV election debate contrasted with Rishi Sunak’s statement that he would go private if necessary
To add to his embarrassment, the Tories highlighted how three of Labour’s biggest union funders – Unite, Unison and the GMB – offer members private care packages.
Unison, the largest union with 1.4 million members, offers an optional ‘health plan’ that gives money back towards ‘daily healthcare costs such as trips to the dentist and opticians’ plus help with the costs of ‘specialist consultations’.
And Unite offers a Health Cash Plan, which it says is ‘an easy, low-cost way to meet your essential medical needs’ and ‘gets cash back towards the cost of specialist diagnostic consultations’.
Last night Unison stressed that the program ‘is not a private healthcare scheme – it is a payment plan to help low-paid care, school, health, police and council workers spread the costs of treatment not covered by the NHS’.
Tory candidate for Peterborough Paul Bristow, a former member of the Commons health and social care committee, said: ‘If you offer help to get a consultation with a specialist, that’s a way of getting treatment faster than through the NHS.
‘There’s nothing wrong with that, unless you’re pushing the kind of blind left-wing ideology that Sir Keir does.
‘Underneath that moderate, pragmatic image that Sir Keir is trying to sell to voters lies an old-fashioned left-wing man who will wreak havoc if he ends up in tenth place.’
Last night a Labor spokesman said: ‘This is desperate stuff from the Tories. We want the NHS to treat more people faster and more efficiently, and we believe spare capacity, including in the private sector, should be used to achieve this.
“We don’t believe in forcing people to pay so they get the treatment they deserve.”
A YouGov poll yesterday found that 72 percent of Labor Party supporters would use the private sector to avoid long waiting lists if they could afford it. Only 16 percent of Labor voters shared Sir Keir’s views
