Shadow health secretary John Healey has accused the prime minister of being 'loose with the truth' over the Government's plans to reform the NHS.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Local Government Association annual conference in Birmingham last night, the former minister said the proposals under the Health and Social Care Bill were still 'unwise and unnecessary', and will waste more time and resources.
Mr Healey said they were still the 'wrong reforms at the wrong time for the NHS'.
'We have seen a wasted year for the NHS,' he added. 'What is beyond doubt is that these government figures underestimate the costs and overestimate the savings.'
He said the main elements of the Government’s plans for the NHS were still in place, even after the recent two-month listening exercise.
'It is still the case that the long-term plans to turn the NHS into a full-scale market are still in place,' Mr Healey told delegates.
He added that the Government has created five new national quangos since they took power last year, which will lead to more bureaucracy.
He did add that it was right for the responsibility for public health to be given back to local government and re-iterated Labour leader Ed Miliband’s plea to work with them over the future of social care.
'We need to have a system that commands support across the political spectrum,' he said.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley is speaking at the Local Government Association conference today (Thursday).
