Jeremy Corbyn has accused Sir Keir Starmer of “betraying” the health service by introducing a much greater role for the private sector, which he warns will hollow out the NHS.
In one of his first major interventions on an issue outside of the crisis in the Middle East, the former Labour leader also accused Sir Keir of “abandoning” working-class voters with a series of broken pledges, in an article for The Independent.
But Labour hit back, with a spokesperson telling Mr Corbyn: “If your ideology forces NHS patients to wait longer for healthcare, there’s something wrong with your ideology.”
It comes after the Labour leader announced on Monday that private hospitals will provide up to a million extra appointments, scans and operations a year as the government scrambles to cut sky-high waiting lists.
The move is a significant expansion of the independent sector’s role in tackling long delays that have built up in part because of the Covid pandemic.
Under the plans, unveiled by the prime minister in a major speech, private operators will receive an extra £2.5bn a year, as ministers try to hit a target that no patients will have to wait longer than 18 weeks by 2029.
But Mr Corbyn, who is now an independent MP, said that with greater privatisation the new Labour government was “repeating the mistakes of the last”, when Tony Blair’s administration also controversially made use of the private sector.
Expanding its role “hollows out a service that is meant to guarantee a comprehensive service for all”, Mr Corbyn writes.
He goes further, accusing the Labour government of plans which “betray the foundational purpose of the NHS: to provide healthcare for everyone irrespective of their status of wealth”. He warns that private companies have been accused of “cherry picking” by treating the easiest cases and leaving those with more complex needs languishing on NHS waiting lists.
He also accuses Labour of breaking promises to low-income voters, saying “whether it’s maintaining the two-child benefit cap, cutting winter fuel or selling off our NHS, this government is abandoning working-class people, one broken pledge at a time”.
And in what will be seen as a warning to Sir Keir, he suggests the party will “regret” its choice.
He writes: “People in this country are disillusioned by a two-party system that thrives on despair.
“Politicians may regret spending their lives convincing their constituents that nothing will change. Instead, they should inspire some hope that a more equal world is possible. Perhaps they could start with defending a British institution to be proud of an NHS that is public, universal and free for all.”
He also links despair around the NHS to the rise of the far right, which Sir Keir hit out at in his speech after a lengthy public row over his government’s handling of the grooming gangs scandal.
The PM accused billionaire Donald Trump ally Elon Musk of “cheerleading” for the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, “a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case, a gang grooming case”.
Mr Corbyn said as voters despaired over the state of the NHS, adding: “The government wonder why they are overseeing an unprecedented rise in support for far-right parties and personalities.”
Mr Corbyn was suspended by Labour in 2020 over his response to a damning report on antisemitism under his leadership. In last year’s general election he stood and won as an independent candidate, beating the Labour candidate to hold his seat in Islington, north London.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The last Labour government achieved the shortest waiting times and highest patient satisfaction in history. Through our Plan for Change, this Labour government will pull every available lever to cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. That includes paying for patients to be treated free at the point of use by the independent sector, where spare capacity exists.
“If your ideology forces NHS patients to wait longer for healthcare, there’s something wrong with your ideology. Thanks to 14 years of Conservative neglect, patients are in misery waiting up to 18 months in pain - they can’t wait any longer.”
