Sir Keir Starmer has called on Rishi Sunak to apologise for the “lethal chaos” inflicted on the NHS under the Conservative government.
The Labour leader used a feisty exchange at PMQs to accused the prime minister of seeking to “blame others” for record waiting times for ambulances, emergency and elective care.
“When will he stop the excuses, stop shifting the blame, stop the political games and simply tell us when will he stop the delays and get back to the 18-minute wait?” asked Sir Keir.
The Labour leader added: “If he won’t answer any questions, will he at least apologise for the lethal chaos under his watch?”
Mr Sunak fired back by accusing Sir Keir of playing politics with the NHS – pointing to the government’s plan to enforce minimum cover during future strikes in the health service.
“If he cares about ensuring that patients get access to life-saving emergency care when they need it, why won’t he support our minimum safety legislation?” said the PM.
Sir Keir repeatedly brought up record delays to ambulance call-outs at PMQs as he called on the PM to admit the NHS is “in crisis”.
The Labour leader pointed to waiting times in some parts of the UK, which showed that people suffering from heart attacks were waiting more than two and a half hours for an ambulance. “How does he think they feel knowing an ambulance could be still hours away?” he asked.
“If our heart attack victim had called for an ambulance in Peterborough at 12.03pm it wouldn’t arrive until 2:10pm … if they were in Plymouth it wouldn’t arrive until 2.40pm.”
Sir Keir said: “Will he stop blaming others, take some responsibility and just admit under his watch the NHS is in crisis – isn’t it?”
Mr Sunak claimed the Tory government would improve ambulance waiting times because of the “extra funding we are putting in”, before referring again to Labour’s opposition to anti-strike legislation.
“He describes the life-saving care that people desperately need, so why when in other countries like France, Spain, Italy and others, why is he depriving people of that care?”
Mr Sunak added: “I ask him again and again – and we know why – the reason that he is not putting patients first when it comes to ambulance waiting times is because he is simply in the pockets of his union paymasters.”
The clash comes as thousands of nurses are on strike in a dispute over pay as the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union said patients do not get safe staffing levels “any day of the week” in the NHS.
The RCN has announced that two further, bigger strikes will be held next month on 6 and 7 February, while the GMB union has announced further ambulance worker strike dates for 6 and 20 of February and 6 and 20 of March.
Meanwhile, the chief of the UN’s rights agency has expressed concern over the anti-strike legislation legislation being introduced by the Sunak government.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) director general Gilbert Houngbo said he was “very worried” that workers may be forced to “accept a situation that’s below par”.
Mr Sunak and his ministers have previously suggested the ILO supports the kind of “minimum service levels” legislation he is pushing through parliament.
But Mr Houngbo denied such support when speaking to the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Mr Houngbo said the ILO “has been in discussions” with British trade unions over whether they may file a complaint to assess whether the UK is breaching international worker rights laws.
The BBC reported that US labour secretary Marty Walsh asked the broadcaster to put the same question to him, about supporting the minimum service agreements, after hearing the conversation.
Mr Walsh, a former union official, replied: “No. I don’t know about the legislation. But I certainly will work with the ILO. I would not support anything that would take away from workers.”
