Ex-Tory health minister defects to Labour in protest at state of NHS
A HOME Office minister has defended the Government’s record on the NHS, after the shock defection of a Tory MP to Labour in anger over the crisis in the health service.
Dr Dan Poulter, a former health minister and working medic, quit the Conservative Party on Saturday in a blow to Rishi Sunak ahead of what is already expected to be a tough week for the Prime Minister.
Dr Poulter said the Tories were “failing” the health service and that he could no longer “look my NHS colleagues in the eye” as a Conservative.
But policing minister Chris Philp rejected the claim the governing party was not prioritising the NHS, pointing to investment and recruitment efforts.
Dr Poulter said “the health service has ceased to be an area of priority for the Conservative Party, and that is now showing in the strain on the front line and the deterioration of care for patients”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I found it increasingly difficult to look my NHS colleagues in the eye and my patients in the eye and my constituents in the eye with good conscience.
“And I feel that the NHS deserves better than it has at the moment in terms of how it’s run and governed.”
He said he switched to Labour because of its “track record of delivering for patients, transforming services, getting on top of waiting lists, investing in community health care”.
Asked for his response, Mr Philp said: “I don’t accept what Dan is saying at all.
“We’re now spending £165bn a year on the NHS, that’s more than ever, at any point in history,” he said, also pointing to the recruitment of more doctors and nurses.
He also insisted the Tory Party values public services and said it was investing “record amounts of money in both education and health”.
Dr Poulter will take the Labour whip until the general election but will not be running again as the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.
He will advise the Labour Party on its mental health policies while focusing more on his NHS work.
Labour leader Sir Keir said it was “fantastic to welcome Dr Dan Poulter to today’s changed Labour Party” and that it was “time to end the Conservative chaos”.