Ukip General Secretary compares the NHS to Hitler’s bunker

Ukip’s General Secretary, Matthew Richardson has called the NHS “the biggest waste of money in the UK”, the Sunday Mirror has uncovered.

Richardson was speaking to right-wing activists in Washington DC, and went on to compare the NHS to Nazi Germany.

He said

“A number I couldn’t possibly imagine when I was younger is now the amount of money that is owed by my country… of course, at the heart of this, the Reichstag bunker of socialism, is the National Health Service.

“And that is why socialised health care is so dangerous – because it is a ratchet. Once it is in place it is very, very hard to get rid of.”

These comments come after a video emerged at the end of last year in which Nigel Farage said the country might have to move away from a state-funded NHS towards an insurance-based system.

Farage has since said he doesn’t support privatisation, but only this week said this was a debate to which we might have to return.

Shadow Minister Jon Trickett has strongly criticised these remarks and called on Farage to sack Richardson:

“Either Nigel Farage supports this or Mr Richardson cannot stay in post. Nigel Farage cannot simultaneously defend these comments and claim that his party stands for the NHS free at the point of use.

“The man chosen by Nigel Farage to control Ukip’s image has compared the NHS to Hitler’s Nazi bunker.”

“This is Ukip’s real agenda on the NHS. They claim to defend the service we cherish, but they want to dismantle its foundations.

“UKIP can no longer attempt to fool people. They are a party of Tory people, Tory money and they want to extend the worst Tory policies, which would have horrific effects on working people.”