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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
John Stevens

Slippery Rishi Sunak accused of misleading MPs over record NHS waiting lists

Rishi Sunak has been told to come clean as he was accused of misleading voters over NHS delays.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, the flailing Tory leader claimed: “We are reducing waiting lists”.

But Labour’s Wes Streeting demanded he correct the record as this is “simply not true”.

In a letter to the PM, seen by the Mirror, he wrote: “As you will know, there are 7.4million patients waiting for NHS treatment today, more than ever before, and waiting lists are rising.

“Since you became Prime Minister, NHS waiting lists have in fact grown by an extra 350,000 patients.

“Not only are more patients waiting, but they are waiting longer than ever before.

Labour's Wes Streeting called on Rishi Sunak to correct his NHS waiting list claim (Getty Images)

“A record 3.1million waited longer than 18 weeks for treatment, 371,000 of whom have been waiting more than a year.”

The Shadow Health Secretary added: “Given the events of the past week, you should not need to be reminded of the significance of misleading the House.

“As you refused to offer a view on the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson, the public are still in the dark as to whether you believe honesty is an important part of leadership.

“I invite you to return to the House and correct the record.”

Six days on from the publication of the damning Privileges Committee report into the ex-PM Mr Sunak still hasn’t said if he agrees with its finding that the ex-PM has lied and lied and lied over Partygate.

Mr Streeting urged the PM to set out how he will bring waiting lists down.

Hospitals are struggling with staffing shortages (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“That must include your plan to bring an end to strikes in the NHS, a major factor in your failure to get waiting lists falling,” he added.

“It must also include publishing an NHS workforce plan to address crippling staff shortages.

“If you're short of ideas, you are welcome to adopt Labour's plan to train 7,500 more doctors and 10,000 more nurses, paid for abolishing the non-dom tax status.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the Prime Minister’s top five priorities and we have already made significant progress, backed by up to £14.1 billion for health and social care over the next two years.

“The longest waits are falling and more patients are getting access to treatment. The NHS has already virtually eliminated waits of more than two years for treatment, while 18-month waits have been cut by over 91% since the peak in September 2021.

* Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook.

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