Streeting: I won’t finger-wag if patients opt to go private

A LABOUR government will not “wag its finger” at people who use private healthcare, Wes Streeting has said.

The shadow health secretary also promised that Labour will not be the “fun police” and ban cake if the party forms a government after the next general election.

In a wide-ranging interview for today’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, Mr Streeting said his focus was on patient care, not how it is delivered.

“It’s about being pragmatic, smartheaded, using taxpayers’ money wisely to get the best outcomes for patients,” he said. “What matters is what works. I think that will be the approach of the next Labour government.

“I don’t want to wag my finger at people who go private. What I do want to do is make sure the NHS is so good that no one ever feels forced to go private.”

Private healthcare became a political issue last week when Rishi Sunak declined three times to say if he had ever paid for medical cover. Days later the Prime Minister told MPS that he had used private healthcare in the past but was now registered with an NHS GP.

Separately, Labour confirmed that Sir Keir Starmer, the party leader, had never used private healthcare.

Mr Streeting urged the Conservative Government to spend heavily on private care to carry out 200,000 operations to reduce NHS waiting lists.

“The message we’ve had from private providers is there is capacity to do a significant number of operations,” he said.

Mr Streeting said that if he were to be made health secretary in a Labour government he would use the job to become a “patients’ champion”.

After Prof Susan Jebb, the chairman of the Food Standards Agency, suggested this week that cake could be banned from workplaces, Mr Streeting said a Labour government would not be “the fun police” and ban sugary foods.

“Bringing a bit of cake into the office is not altogether a bad thing. Maybe shovelling loads of cake all day, every day is a bad thing,” he said.

“But, I don’t think a Labour government will be banning cake.”

Hear the full interview at playpodca.st/ Chopper