In a scathing critique of Reform UK’s proposal to offer tax relief on private healthcare insurance, Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to argue that the plan would cost the country £1.7 billion. Streeting will make this claim at a conference organised by the Fabian Society, a socialist think tank aligned with the Labour Party, where he will describe the Reform policy as a “tax cut for the wealthiest”.
Before the 2024 general election, Reform UK pledged to offer a 20% tax relief on all private healthcare policies if elected. The party claimed this would improve the overall standard of care by reducing the burden on the NHS. Nigel Farage, the party’s leader, appeared to reiterate this commitment at a press conference last summer, stating: “Perhaps if we gave people a bit of tax relief on paying for private health care, we might just relieve the pressure off the National Health Service.”
However, Streeting is set to argue that this policy would primarily benefit the wealthy, while doing little to address the fundamental challenges facing the NHS. “Farage says he wants an insurance-based system of healthcare,” Streeting will say. “Just last year, he rejected the public funding model that has survived since 1948, saying: ‘I do not want it funded through general taxation. It does not work.'”
The Health Secretary will go on to criticise Reform UK’s priorities, stating: “This tax cut for the wealthiest would be the first step on the road to Farage’s insurance system. A system that checks your pockets before your pulse and asks for your credit card before your care. It’s alright for mister moneybags. We know he can afford it. But what about those who can’t?”
Streeting’s remarks come as the Labour Party prepares to make the NHS a key focus of its campaigns for the upcoming local elections in May, where Reform UK is predicted to make significant gains. The Health Secretary will argue that the party’s proposal poses a threat to the founding principles of the NHS, which Labour is committed to defending.
“We should be in no doubt that the founding principles of the NHS are now contested terrain. And it falls to Labour to defend them. A publicly funded public service, free at the point of use. Back on its feet and fit for the future. Those are Labour’s values, those are Britain’s values and this is a fight we will win,” Streeting will say.
