Wes Streeting brutally slams Kemi AND Farage and demands Tories say sorry for how they ran the NHS in blistering attack
WES Streeting says Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch are like Alien vs Predator — in Labour’s biggest attack ahead of the local elections.
The Health Secretary likened the two leaders to the sci-fi horror franchise over their attitudes towards the NHS.
He accused the Reform UK boss of “speaking out of both sides of his mouth”.
And he said Ms Badenoch should apologise for how the Conservatives ran the health service.
He launched the blistering attack ahead of elections on Thursday for 23 councils and six mayors.
There will also be a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby after the sitting Labour MP Mike Amesbury was sentenced for assault.
Mr Streeting told The Sun on Sunday: “Watching the Conservatives and Reform at the moment is a bit like Alien vs Predator.
“I think they’re both trying to outdo each other.
“Nigel Farage likes to go around being Mr Straight Talking but, on the NHS, he’s been speaking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time.
“He says he wants an insurance-based model one minute.
“He says that those who can afford it should pay for their healthcare and that the NHS should be free for those who can’t afford it.
“And then the moment he gets challenged on it, he sort of says, ‘Oh, no, that wasn’t me, that was another Nigel Farage’.
“Come on, Nigel, it’s time to be honest with the public. Where do you stand on the NHS?
“When you say people who can afford to pay should pay, who are you talking about? How much should they pay? What would an insurance system look like?
“And as for Kemi Badenoch, she’s no better. She says we need a debate about the NHS model.
“Well, come on then Kemi Badenoch, let’s have the debate.
“Maybe she should start that debate with an apology.
“She and her party took the NHS from the highest satisfaction in history and the lowest waiting times on record to the complete opposite.”
Come on, Nigel, it’s time to be honest with the public. Where do you stand on the NHS?
Wes Streeting
Mr Streeting said the proof was in the pudding for Labour as new figures show thousands of patients were being seen quicker owing to its plan to cut waiting lists.
Local centres delivered a record 18,000 checks a day between July 2024 and February 2025 — 50 per cent up on the previous year.
And waiting lists were slashed by almost 50,000 in deprived areas, according to official figures.
Mr Streeting said: “It’s relevant this week because the Conservatives and Reform are saying, ‘Vote for us because we’re not the Government’.
“Well, thank God they’re not the Government when it comes to the NHS. Unlike them, we’re protecting its principles and we’re getting the NHS delivering in practice.”
He said Labour was not cocky about making progress, adding: “I wouldn’t pretend for a minute that all of the problems have gone away — quite the opposite.
“But it feels like for the first time in a long time, the NHS is moving in the right direction. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
“Of course, there’s still a long way to go but we’re not even a year in yet and we’ve already got waiting lists coming down.
“We are already delivering on the pledges that we’ve made.
“Change has begun and the best is still to come.”
Mr Streeting, who has spoken about his own fight with kidney cancer, added: “On a very personal level, I don’t want to let our country down. I know how much the NHS means to us. The NHS saved my life.”
The Health Secretary also revealed for the first time that new NHS transgender guidance was imminent.
It follows this month’s ruling by the Supreme Court declaring that trans women are not women.
NHS hospitals have been at the forefront of the bitter battle over sex-based rights.
Mr Streeting added: “We’ll be issuing guidance in the coming weeks before the summer and it’s for NHS managers in different settings to make sure that they’re managing this in an appropriate way, crucially upholding the law.
“And that’s what we will expect of every NHS service.”
Concerns have been raised that some hospital managers will try to defy the Supreme Court judges.
But the Health Secretary said: “The Prime Minister is clear the law is the law.
The Prime Minister is clear the law is the law
Wes Streeting
“He expects all public services to uphold the law, and that is what we will deliver. We wouldn’t tolerate the NHS breaking the law or regulations in other areas and it won’t be tolerated here.”
Mr Streeting wants trans people to be treated in private spaces in NHS hospitals.
He swerved questions on whether this would cost the NHS more money by stressing there was what he called a “tiny number” of people in the trans community.
And he told The Sun on Sunday that nurses must have single-sex spaces to change into their scrubs — in a major victory for campaigners.
“Single-sex spaces for women are really important and that also applies to NHS staff,” he said.
Eight nurses from Darlington are taking the NHS to court in October to try to stop a trans colleague using their changing room.
Mr Streeting said: “I would say, as a general point of principle, I want to make sure that the NHS is upholding the sex-based rights of women who work for the NHS, as well as women who use it. I don’t want to see a situation where NHS staff are having to drag their employers through courts and tribunals to uphold their rights.”
He also said the NHS must speak in plain English and not “erase women”.
I want to make sure that the NHS is upholding the sex-based rights of women who work for the NHS, as well as women who use it
Wes Streeting
It comes after some NHS bodies have been using terms such as “birthing people” instead of “pregnant women” and “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding”.
He added: “You’re not being trans-inclusive by erasing women from NHS documents, guidance or anything else, frankly.
“We’re not going to have any truck with removing the word ‘mother’, removing the term ‘breastfeeding’, not least because speaking in plain English is really important.
“This is about applying common sense and making sure that the NHS is always speaking in language that people can understand and upholding a law at all times.
“And that’s what I expect — and that’s what the NHS can deliver.”