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.”
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
72 Responses to “Farage admits he still wants a private NHS”
Jon
Twat!!
CD
Why is Labour having such a hard time understanding UKIP’s policies on the NHS?
Nigel Farage, and some others in UKIP, want a system of health insurance rather than the NHS. But this position wasn’t popular among UKIP as a whole, and Farage’s side was defeated. So, democratically, UKIP is not campaigning on that platform in 2015.
The idea of a move to an insurance system isn’t mainstream in British politics, but why shouldn’t it be? Our neighbors, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland, all have excellent health systems, using compulsory social or private insurance to finance it. Why should it be out of bounds for British politicians to say the UK should become more like the Dutch system, say?
The longer the NHS state monopoly is treated as a sacred cow that can’t ever be challenged by mainstream politicians, the worse British healthcare will get. It’s time for a real debate on the issue.
Neil Wilson
Pensions are paid for by paying the pensions. Because pensions are always a current production issue *in real terms*.
Neil Wilson
You won’t. You’re a money obsessive.
Go on then who is the private employer who is going to hire the 450 people about to be laid off from Calderdale A&E and what are they going to be doing in the private sectors that is so much more important than working on maintaining the nation’s health?
You can’t answer it. You duck the question. You talk about money and ‘efficiency’.
Neil Wilson
Actually the problem is people answering straw man questions.
Still waiting for somebody to tell me what the 450 people due to be sacked at Calderdale A&E are going to do in the private sector that is so much more important than working in an A&E department.