Labour is reportedly planning to obliterate Reform UK in the polls by utilising Nigel Farage’s controversial views on the NHS.
The Reform UK leader has a strong track record of suggesting alternative insurance based methods to approach Britain’s health service system.
Farage faced backlash last weekend after he suggested the UK should follow in the footsteps of France “where you pay into effectively an insurance scheme.”
Labour quickly edited his LBC interview into a viral social media clip, accusing Farage of wanting “patients to pay for their own healthcare”.
Health secretary Wes Streeting doubled down on his party’s post, saying: “With Reform, our NHS would be reduced to a poor service for poor people, with working people forced to pay to go private.
“Labour will rebuild our NHS so that it is there for everyone who needs it and, whenever you’re ill, you never have to worry about the bill.”
He added: “Every single voter considering Reform needs to ask themselves if they could afford to pay for health insurance like patients have to elsewhere?
“There are elections in just three months time. Voters deserve straight talking from Reform about their plans to move to health insurance.”
The Reform UK leader hit back at Streeting, claiming he was “lying about our plans for the NHS”.
“Let me be clear, the NHS will always be free at the point of delivery under a Reform government,” he said on X.
However, Nigel Farage’s “contract” with the people, which was released instead of a manifesto in the general election, called for a 20 per cent tax relief on all private healthcare and insurance. Critics said it was effectively a state handout to those with the broadest shoulders.
Streeting himself was accused of helping privatise the NHS earlier this month after he announced he would give private hospitals an additional £2.5 billion to provide up to a million extra appointments, scans, and operations a year.
Nevertheless, according to HuffPost UK, Labour will emphasise Farage’s comments about the NHS as a central focus of its campaign for the May local elections.
A party source told the outlet: “The public cares deeply about the NHS, and the principle of it being free at the point of use is non negotiable for almost everyone. It represents British values.
“That’s why it’s important that we highlight the danger of Nigel Farage’s consistent position on moving to a fee paying model.
“It would see patients paying hundreds, even thousands, for hip replacements, cataract surgery, and even routine treatment.”
Former Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth, who now runs the thinktank Labour Together, said: “Nigel Farage has made it crystal clear he wants to introduce charging for healthcare. Voters will be repulsed by his plans for US style health insurance.”
The Reform UK leader has revealed his ambitions to be Britain’s next prime minister and recent polling has put his party, which has five MPs, ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives.
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