Sunak’s failure will cost his party dear for years to come

The big NHS news this afternoon is that the NHS waiting list in England is now almost at 8m – the highest level yet.

This is a figure that needs to be going down sharply if the Tories are to convince voters that the NHS is indeed safe in their hands.

What infuriates me and I am sure many others is the way Sunak always responds when pressed on this. Instead of dealing with the issue itself he starts quoting some area where the waiting list is dropping. So what? It is the overall figure that is the real test to judge the government on in this area.

It is almost as if the Tories have decided already that they don’t stand a chance at the election so this doesn’t really matter. If that is driving their thinking then that is a huge mistake. The state of the waiting list when the Tories eventually leave the government will be thrown at them for elections to come.

Mike Smithson