WES Streeting has admitted "all roads lead back to Westminster" as he was challenged on his party's attacks on the SNP's management of the NHS.
The shadow health secretary insisted the SNP “privately” believed “a Labour government in Westminster would be better for the NHS in Scotland”.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting also suffered the embarrassment of failing to remember all six of Keir Starmer’s six pledges – unveiled last week – after he forgot the vow to tackle antisocial behaviour.
He was challenged by Kuenssberg on whether his party could be trusted to run the NHS, given what she called the “terrible problems” in the Welsh health service, where Labour are in charge.
‘All roads lead back to Westminster’ No, not an SNP soundbite. Instead, those words belong to UK Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary as he explains why the NHS is in crisis in Wales. Well worth a listen, and a share.#NHS https://t.co/miGpPvcEKe
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) May 19, 2024
She pointed out that cancer waiting times were at the second-highest level on record.
Streeting said: "Right across the UK every part of the NHS is in crisis and all roads do lead back to Westminster because even though this is devolved, decisions taken in Westminster have an impact on the NHS across the whole country."
He added: “I’m convinced that a Labour government in Westminster won’t just deliver for the NHS in England, we’ll create a rising tide that lifts all ships across the UK.”
But Kuenssberg pointed out that Labour were “very happy to criticise the SNP in Scotland which has terrible problems with the NHS in Scotland but then when it comes to Wales you’re saying, ‘well it’s all Westminster’s fault’.”
Streeting was then asked whether he was “proud of Labour’s record in health”.
He replied: "If the Welsh health minister was sat here now, Eluned [Morgan] would be saying that she’s not happy with the performance of the NHS in Wales so she’s working hard to get waiting lists down and to improve the service.
“She also knows, as I suspect the SNP’s health minister Neil Gray wouldn’t sit here I suspect on your programme and say ‘You know what, a Labour government would be good for the NHS in Scotland’, but privately the SNP knows, a Labour government in Westminster would be better for the NHS in Scotland.”
The SNP said the Labour MP's admission showed that "even they know that Westminster isn’t working for Scotland".
The party's health spokesperson Amy Callaghan said: “Every day we see the consequences of Westminster rule in Scotland’s public services, none more so than in our NHS. “But, as a fervently pro-Westminster and pro-UK party, the Labour Party has been in denial about this for years. “Repeated warnings from the SNP have gone unheeded and calls for adequate funding have been ignored while both Westminster parties shirked responsibility for the state of our public services. “Now, with Labour in touching distance of the keys to Number 10, they’re finally being honest about the state of broken Britain, and where responsibility for that really lies."
