Newsnight leaves Labour’s NHS plans bloodied and bruised

Labour’s headline policy of removing private sector involvement in the NHS was torn apart last night in a devastating Newsnight package presented by the show’s political editor, Allegra Stratton.

It is the second time this week that the BBC’s flagship programme has given shadow health secretary Andy Burnham a hard time: on Tuesday he was the victim of an interview with presenter Kirsty Wark described by commentator Guido Fawkes as a “car crash”.

Last night’s segment included interviews with Lord Darzi, a respected surgeon and former Labour health minister in Gordon Brown’s government, and Julian Le Grand, a former adviser to Tony Blair, both of whom attacked Labour for its plan to return "preferred provider" status to the NHS and reduce the chances of private companies conducting routine ops for NHS patients.

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Le Grand warned that Burnham would be "wasting" taxpayers' money on the NHS unless he allowed private competition for NHS contracts.

Darzi said it was irrelevant whether NHS care is delivered by the private or the public sector: the NHS should prefer providers who deliver the highest quality care - whether they are "public, private or not-for-profit".

He added: "If the debate doesn't focus on the quality of care, then every patient and every clinician will know that the real argument about what matters has already been lost.”

Le Grand argued that the competition that private sector involvement brings to the NHS “seems to work… It’s a good thing to have and if Andy Burnham ends up pouring more money into the health service without that, that money is going to be wasted."

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Allegra Stratton is a former Guardian journalist, and no enemy of Labour. But her package left Burnham's plans bloodied and bruised on a trolley in the BBC A&E ward.

Michael Savage, chief political correspondent of The Times, tweeted: “Blimey. Quite an evisceration of Labour health divisions on Newsnight. As tough as anything you'll find in the ‘right wing press’.”

As Stratton reported, Darzi and Le Grand's comments intensify a row that goes much deeper than just NHS policy. The intervention earlier this week of former Cabinet minister Alan Milburn exposed a serious split between the Blairite wing of the party and the more left-leaning Team Miliband.

Milburn criticsised the new Labour leadership for failing to stand up for Blair and Brown's prudent handling of the economy and warned them not to cast aside the NHS reforms that he – Milburn – and others had introduced in recent years.

Indeed, among those “other” reformers is Burnham himself, who allowed private sector contracts for NHS patients when he was Health Health Secretary between 2009 and 2010 and has now changed his tune.