Starmer says he ‘wouldn’t jump queue’ for NHS treatment by going private

Keir Starmer has said he “wouldn’t jump the queue” for NHS treatment by going private when accused of being “slightly disingenuous” in his comments about private healthcare earlier in the election campaign.

Asked in ITV’s leaders’ debate earlier this month whether he would use private healthcare if a loved-one was on a long waiting list for surgery, Starmer said “no”, adding: “I don’t use private health. I use the NHS.”

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Appearing on The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots show this evening, the Labour leader rejected claims that he had said he would rather a family member die in the NHS than have them treated privately when he was accused of being “slightly disingenuous” in his comments.

Responding to the question, Starmer said: “I was asked whether, if me or a family member was on a waiting list, I would pay to effectively jump the list and get in first for a private operation. And I said no, because waiting lists are now, what, nearly eight million? It’s absolutely shocking numbers.”

Starmer also argued that the NHS is the “very best place to be” for life-threatening cases, telling viewers: “My mum was very, very ill all of her life. I spent a lot of my teenage years in high dependency units with my mum on nights we thought we were going to lose her because she was so ill.

“It absolutely seared on me what the NHS did for my mum. I know and everybody knows that, for acute cases, life-threatening cases, the NHS is the very best place to be.”

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He added: “So no I wouldn’t jump the queue. I wouldn’t say to the rest of the population: ‘You can be on a waiting list. Give me time to fix it, but I’m going to speed myself through.’ I’m not going to look people in the eye and say that, that’s not me.

“If a family member was in an acute, life-threatening situation, I would want them in the NHS, because I know from personal experience the NHS is absolutely the best place to be if there’s a life-threatening situation. That is my genuine view on this.”

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