Wes Streeting has criticised “middle-class lefties” who are opposed to Labour’s plans for NHS reform. 

The shadow health secretary said the NHS “is a service, not a shrine” and if it does not change it “will die”.

He said Labour will make use of the private healthcare sector in order to reduce NHS waiting lists in a move which he conceded would prompt cries of “betrayal” from some quarters. 

Writing in The Sun, Mr Streeting said: “We will also use spare capacity in the private sector to cut the waiting lists.

“Middle-class lefties cry ‘betrayal’. The real betrayal is the two-tier system that sees people like them treated faster - while working ­families like mine are left waiting for longer.”

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