A SCOTTISH actor and comedian has hit out at plans to privatise the NHS during an appearance on BBC Debate Night.
“It feels like we’re the 51st state of the US. Actually we’d be the 52nd after Greenland,” Karen Dunbar said to laughs from the audience.
It comes amid fears that parts of the NHS could be privatised after Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s pledge to “hold the door wide open” for private investment in the health service – which some see as a precursor to privatisation.
Writing in The Telegraph at the start of the General Election campaign, Streeting said: “We will go further than New Labour ever did. I want the NHS to form partnerships with the private sector that goes beyond just hospitals.”
On the BBC debate show, Dunbar (below) spoke of the excellent service she has received from NHS staff, who she added are “really to the wire”.
“It feels like… we’re the 51st state of the US… actually we’d be the 52nd after Greenland” Comedian and actress @karendunbar147 is “suspicious” the NHS is under threat of moving towards a privatised US-style “insurance model”#bbcdn pic.twitter.com/pdNNxEhyiK
— BBC Debate Night (@bbcdebatenight) January 29, 2025
Speaking about the move towards privatising parts of the NHS, she said that it’s “hard not to be suspicious”.
“Because it wouldn't surprise me if some people would benefit from the NHS not existing and us moving into the American model,” Dunbar added.
She then went on: “It feels like we're the 51st state of the US. Actually we’d be the 52nd after Greenland.”
It comes after US president Donald Trump did not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the resource-rich Arctic nation on national security grounds.
