After backtracking on leaked comments last year, the UKIP leader tells Radio 4 he still supports privatising healthcare
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has again suggested that he would support privatising the the NHS. In an interview with BBC political editor Nick Robinson, Farage admitted that his party were not behind him on the issue but that he had not changed his opinion:
“I triggered a debate within UKIP that was outright rejected by my colleagues, so I have to accept that. As time goes on, this is a debate that we’re all going to have to return to.”
Farage was responding to Robinson’s questions about a film uncovered last November by the Guardian, in which he told UKIP supporters that the he believed the NHS would be better funded by an insurance based system. He said:
“There is no question that healthcare provision is going to have to be very much greater in 10 years than it is today, with an ageing population, and we’re going to have to find ways to do it.”
Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary has responded to Farage’s comments:
“Nigel Farage has confirmed that a vote for UKIP is a vote for the privatisation of the NHS and for a full American healthcare system.
“Farage admits he says one thing in public about the NHS but another behind closed doors. He has shown UKIP’s statements on protecting the NHS to be hollow.
“UKIP claim to stand up for working people, but in reality they are more Tory than the Tories. Farage will never be able to distance himself from his real views. He should be honest with the public.”
72 Responses to “Farage admits he still wants a private NHS”
Guest
Ah yes, you’re trying to cherry-pick figures to avoid discussing people dying because they can’t afford treatment.
Guest
You’re nobody and you evidently care deeply, I see.
And now you think I’m a worm, what a surprise – you’re showing your bigotry and hate for the world again, Mr. Dick Queue, as you said to call you.
And then you whine like the little crybaby you are when someone does it, Lord Blagger.
Guest
Nope, no such policy in your manifesto, Because you don’t have one. And he’s your Dear Leader, and has stated he’ll come back and revise your policy anyway.
Moreover, that’s an assumption based on you allowing services to continue, for example, which wouldn’t be the case – you quite literally could not afford it with your economic cries against trade.
But hey, you think allowing the poor access to healthcare is a failure, and that private care gives you value because you can afford it, screw everyone else.
Xaider
1. UKIP nor the Tories, Labour, and the Greens et cetera have their manifesto released yet.
This is the point where you’ve immediately demolished any credibility in the rest of your comment.
2. The policies don’t change regularly contrary to popular belief, it’s misrepresentation by the media. Apparently something Farage said a few years ago in front of about 15-20 people as a debate is somehow automatically a UKIP policy which the media and Tories/Labour spin as ‘retracting’ and proclaiming it was originally a policy; it wasn’t.
Does that mean whenever Cameron or Miliband say something in a debate, it’s automatically Tory or Labour policy? No.
I laughed. Your comment was so easy to reduce to nothing.
Xaider
It’s obvious why people are voting UKIP; being abused by politically correct left wingers is a common occurrence these days.