Beth Rigby’s brutal response to Rishi Suank’s claims that NHS waiting lists are coming down is getting widely shared on social media – as data is released showing that the opposite is actually true.
New figures published by NHS England show that waiting lists went up in April, with an estimated 7.57 million treatments waiting to be carried out.
NHS waiting lists have been a major talking point for political leaders in the run up to July’s General Election.
Rishi Sunak vowed to tackle the number in January 2023, when it stood at 7.21 million.
He was pressed on the matter by Beth Rigby during the latest leaders’ event, and the Sky News presenter wasn’t buying the PM’s response.
Daisy Cooper, health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, called on Mr Sunak “to apologise to the public for his failure to get NHS waiting lists down instead of ducking responsibility”.
“The Prime Minister getting booed by the public over soaring waiting lists last night shows just how angry people are with his record of failure,” she added.
Sir Keir Starmer vowed that one of the first steps of a Labour government would be to bring down waiting lists by creating 40,000 new appointments per week.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “This has blown a hole in Rishi Sunak’s claim that the NHS has turned a corner.
“He promised to cut waiting lists, but they are 350,000 longer today than when he became Prime Minister.
“He can’t blame NHS staff – there were no strikes last month yet waiting lists still rose. The blame lies solely with the Conservatives.”
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