Wes Streeting defends Labour plan to use private sector to cut NHS backlog

Exclusive: Failure to do so would betray working-class people, shadow health secretary says

Wes Streeting has defended Labour's plans to use the private sector to help cut the NHS care backlog, arguing that a failure to do so would result in a betrayal" of working-class people who cannot afford to pay for care.

The shadow health secretary said his approach was a pragmatic but principled one" as he doubled down on his remarks this week about middle-class lefties" whom he said risked putting ideological purity ahead of patient care.