Waiting lists having increased by around half a million since the start of last year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been forced to admit that he has failed to meet his key pledge of cutting NHS waiting lists, as the Tory record of failure continues to grow.
In an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, Sunak said ‘we have not made enough progress’, with NHS waiting lists having increased by around half a million since the start of last year.
A pledge to cut NHS waiting lists was one of five pledges Sunak made at the start of last year. The others were to halve inflation, grow the economy, get debt falling, and stop small boat crossings.
The only one Sunak has met is halving inflation, which at 4% still remains higher than the Bank of England’s target rate of 2%. On the other pledges, NHS waiting lists have grown, the economy has stagnated, debt has risen, and small boat crossings have not stopped.
On waiting lists, Morgan asked Sunak: “You failed on that pledge?”
The PM replied: “Yes, we have.”
Morgan added: “You said, NHS waiting lists will fall. In fact, they are slightly coming down now. But the waiting list is still nearly half a million more than it was at the start of last year. Do you accept that?”
The PM replied ‘yes’ and then tried to blame NHS strikes for the rise in waiting lists.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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