Starmer defends lessons in toothbrushing for kids
SIR Keir Starmer embraced the nanny state yesterday as he defended his plan to introduce supervised toothbrushing for for three to five-yearolds in breakfast clubs.
Launching a bid to improve children’s health, the Labour leader said the state has a role to play in ensuring the population is fit.
Mr Starmer said: ‘I have to say when I first read the statistic that for six to ten-year-olds, the biggest cause of admissions to hospital is decayed teeth – I was really struck.
‘I don’t think you can simply say “that’s none of our business”, it is our business because it’s the health of a child. But also once you’ve got a child admitted into hospital, it’s costing the taxpayer a fortune. So I’m not saying it’s the state and not parents, it’s got to be both.’
And he said he was ‘up for that fight if people want to say to me I don’t think we should be doing that’.
British Dental Association chairman Eddie Crouch said: ‘It’s a scandal that decay remains the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children. Prevention isn’t just better than cure, it’s cheaper too.’
Other proposals in Labour’s Child Health Action Plan include cutting mental health waiting lists by recruiting thousands more staff and delivering 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments a year.
But public health minister Andrea Leadsom said Mr Starmer should ‘focus on fixing his own house before criticising others’.
She said: ‘In Wales, Labour is overseeing the longest hospital waits in Great Britain, are the only administration to have cut the NHS budget since 2010… and consistently fail to meet targets.
‘Labour’s unfunded promises on healthcare in England would cost taxpayers billions, in addition to the £28 billion a year by 2030 spending promise they have already committed to.’