Labour firebrand faces criticism over clip shared on X, making claims to schoolchildren about Reform UK
Angela Rayner has sparked a backlash over the video (Image: Getty)
Angela Rayner has been accused of “openly lying” to schoolchildren about Nigel Farage and Reform UK. The former deputy prime minister shared a video on X of herself telling youngsters that Mr Farage would make people pay for the NHS.
In the clip, one schoolboy said to her: “You talk about the NHS and Nigel Farage, you can’t really put all the blame on him because I actually think he’d be better than Keir Starmer.” The Ashton-under-Lyne MP replied: “Nigel Farage says that he wants a system that is a more insurance-style system, so that means you have to pay, that means it’s not free at the point of use any more. I think that is really dangerous territory. I’d be okay in that system, by the way, I’d benefit from it now, but when I was growing up, I wouldn’t have benefited from it, and my son probably wouldn’t have survived if that was the system at the time.
“So I think it’s really dangerous what Nigel Farage is offering in the NHS.
“It sounds plausible, but once you go down that route, other people will not be able to access that service. And I think that’s really a terrible thing to do to people when they need the service the most. We should be able to provide it for them.”
But a Reform spokesman hit back: “It’s pretty telling that Labour have to sink to new lows by using schoolchildren to spread their lies.
“We look forward to seeing the results in Angela Rayner‘s constituency on Thursday.”
Ben Bradley, the party’s head of local government delivery, added: “Angela Rayner openly lying to school children about Nigel Farage and Reform – even suggesting that children would die if Reform were in government – based on a fake policy that Nigel and many others in Reform have consistently said is untrue.
“This is really, really bad. Using children for political points. Lying to them about your opposition. Scaring them with falsehoods, and posting it online yourself because you’re somehow proud of it. This woman could be PM in a few weeks.”
Political commentator Adrian Hilton added: “I don’t know what school this is, but unless the head teacher has invited a Reform UK politician (and others) to rebut this disinformation and to give a balancing view, this electioneering is a blatant contravention of Part 5, Chapter 4, Sections 406-7 of the Education Act 1996.”
Mr Farage has suggested in the past that he would be open to a debate on an insurance-based health system.
But he has pledged that the NHS would remain free at the point of delivery under a Reform government.