Labour to tackle ‘middle class Lefties’ opposed to its private health plans

LABOUR will face down ‘ middle - class Lefties’ opposed to the party’s plans to use the private sector to cut NHS waiting lists.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed to ignore ‘howls of outrage’ from those ideologically opposed to private health – despite using it themselves.

Any ‘spare capacity’ in the private sector would be used to slash waiting times, he said.

It comes after a recent Office for National Statistics survey found 9.7million patients were waiting for a hospital appointment or to start NHS treatment. ‘ Middle- class Lefties cry “betrayal”,’ Mr Streeting wrote in the Sun. ‘the real betrayal is the two- tier system that sees people like them treated faster – while working families like mine are left waiting for longer.

‘the NHS is a service, not a shrine. It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure. ‘this can’t go on. If the NHS doesn’t change, it will die.’

Mr Streeting said he had already been criticised for his view on social media. He told

BBC Radio 4: ‘As the howls of

outrage pour in, I take it as water off a duck’s back.’

He said he could not look someone in the eye who had faced a long wait for treatment ‘in pain and agony’ and tell them to wait longer ‘because my principles trump their timely access to care’.

Momentum, a Jeremy Corbyn-supporting activist group, said: ‘ this is an unhelpful intervention from Wes Streeting.

‘His attack on those asking for more funding as “middleclass Lefties” is a slap in the face to hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors and other NHS staff in desperate need of a pay rise, and a recipe for a continued recruitment and retention crisis.’

SNP’s health spokesman Amy Callaghan added: ‘Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party are no longer hiding their desire to privatise the NHS.

‘Instead of offering doctors and nurses a fair wage, Sir Keir would prioritise handing over billions of pounds to private investors.’

Mr Streeting said he would, for now, ‘ resist’ revealing Labour’s social care plans.

Chief Secretary to the treasury Laura trott said: ‘Labour’s own Shadow Health Secretary has admitted Labour cannot say how they would pay for their spending commitments.

‘they cannot say how they would pay for their social care promises or how they will plug their £2.7 billion black hole because they do not have a plan. Without a plan, Labour will have to put up taxes – taking us back to square one.’

■ Every child with type 1 diabetes will be given a smartphone under Labour to access new glucose monitoring technology, party chiefs pledged.

the devices will track blood sugar levels and work with an ‘ artificial pancreas’ which automatically provides insulin when their levels are high. Around 32,000 children in the UK are currently living with the condition. Sir Keir Starmer said it is a ‘travesty’ only smartphone users can currently use the technology.