Wes Streeting has challenged Nigel Farage to outline his health policies before May’s local elections and warned a Reform UK government could mean “there will be no NHS”.
The health secretary urged the Reform leader to “come clean” on the party’s plans for the future of the NHS amid concerns it could be considering an insurance-based system.
Mr Streeting’s attack comes just a few weeks before crunch local elections in May, as Reform UK continues to soar in polls across the country.
Speaking at an Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) event in London, the health secretary said that “the very question of whether this country should have a National Health Service” is a “fight that is brewing”.
Pointing to previous comments made by Mr Farage on NHS funding, he said: “When Nigel Farage announced his shadow cabinet, he forgot to appoint a shadow health secretary.
“Now that might be because if Farage becomes prime minister, there will be no NHS.
“Farage has said, and I quote: ‘We are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare’. Just last year e said: ‘I do not want it funded through general taxation. It doesn’t work’.”
The Reform UK leader has previously said the UK should “re-examine” the NHS’s funding model, and said at Reform's Welsh manifesto launch last month that he is “prepared to consider any alternative to the failure we have now”.
In 2014, he said the UK would have to “move to an insurance-based system of healthcare”, but has since insisted he supports healthcare remaining free at the point of use.
Criticising Reform UK for not being clearer on their health policies before polling day in May, Mr Streeting added: “Nigel Farage should stop hiding from his guilty little secret, be straight with the British people about what he actually believes and tell us what he’ll actually do.”
“What kind of insurance system would he introduce? Social or private? On what terms? How much will patients pay in insurance premiums? What protections would be in place for the uninsured?”
He added: “If Reform want to form the next government, they need to come clean with the British public and answer those questions.”
Turning to the election in Wales, where Reform UK is expected to make major gains, Mr Streeting said the thought of a victory for Farage “sends shivers down my spine”.
Reform UK has topped opinion polls in Wales, alongside Plaid Cymru, where the Labour Party has been in power since the Senedd was established in 1999.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to face a devastating blow at the polls as Labour continues to trail, under threat of losing voters both on the left to the Green Party and on the right to Reform UK.
“The fact that Farage thinks he can do so without coming clean on what he really believes on the NHS would be the biggest con since Brexit – arguably bigger because at least he told us he believes in Brexit,” Mr Streeting said.
“You cannot trust this con artist with the NHS. The best way for people in Wales to stop Reform and vote for the NHS is to back Welsh Labour.”
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
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