“Don’t be sick,” said Neil Kinnock of the UK under Margaret Thatcher’s vile rule. Little did he realise that, a few decades later, his words would apply to both Conservative and Labour governments.

Figures released today (April 11, 2024) indicate that the Tories have failed to cut NHS waiting lists after Rishi Sunak promised to do just that. But the response of the Opposition spokesman shows that Labour is waiting to fail.

According to Left Foot Forward,

Sunak made cutting NHS waiting lists one of his five key pledges to voters when he came to power, and declared that he fully expected voters ‘to hold my government and I to account on delivering those goals.’

Instead, he has failed miserably on cutting NHS waiting lists.

Official figures published this morning revealed that there were 7.54 million outstanding NHS treatments in February. That compares to 7.21 million in January last year, when the prime minister made his pledge.

So that’s clear – the Tories have failed to cut NHS waiting lists.

Labour is waiting to fail

But then Labour’s Wes Streeting shoved his privatising oar in:

“We have a plan to cut NHS waiting lists, delivering 2 million more appointments a year through extra evening and weekend working, funded by closing tax loopholes and clamping down on tax avoidance, because we prioritise doctors, not tax dodgers.”

He’s planning to force already-overworked staff to work on evenings and weekends. Oh – and not mentioned here but previously-announced is his plan to farm NHS work out to private health firms that he says have spare capacity. Sadly, there is no such spare capacity – the work would be done by NHS doctors and nurses who would be hired by the privateers, and this would take them away from their NHS work.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Or indeed… killing Peter?

As Prem Sikka points out, 300,000 people a year die while awaiting an appointment. And 14,000 a year die in Accident and Emergency departments.

Baron Sikka accuses the government of democide – killing people over whom it has power.

Be warned that, if that were true, then a future Labour government with Wes Streeting as its health secretary is likely to be guilty of the same crime.

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