Corbyn warns Cabinet their own local hospitals are full

Jeremy Corbyn tonight warned Cabinet ministers their own local hospitals were strained to breaking point as he demanded an ’emergency budget’ to bail out the NHS.

Labour research found the Hillingdon Hospitals Foundation Trust that serves Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge constituency was among those suffering worst. 

Average bed occupancy at the hospital this winter has been 99.3 per cent – and it has been completely full on 40 occasions. 

The Labour leader is holding a rally in London tonight to demand an immediate cash injection to the NHS, which is straining under the worst flu outbreak since 2010.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured today in Davos) has insisted the Government’s preparation and reform plans are working 

Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday used PMQs to insist Labour’s only answer to every problem was more money and defended Government reforms and preparation.

Mr Corbyn rejected the analysis tonight warning: ‘There must be no mistake: the NHS crisis is being caused by the political choices of this Tory Government.

‘The Government is failing staff, patients and their families across the whole country. All 20 members of the cabinet’s own constituencies have dangerously full hospitals, with patients stuck in the back of ambulances and on trolleys.

‘We simply can’t go on like this. The Government must bring forward an emergency budget for the NHS to give it the money it needs and end this crisis.’ 

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth added: ‘Our new analysis reveals that her entire inner circle is facing a disastrous winter crisis in their own backyards, with average bed occupancy in the Cabinet at 95 per cent this winter.

‘Perhaps her closest allies will now pressurise the Prime Minister into heeding Labour’s call for an emergency budget of £5 billion for our NHS.

‘Labour founded the NHS, our proudest achievement, and on the year of its 70th anniversary we will fight to save the NHS from Tory underfunding, cuts and toxic privatisation.’

Labour research found the Hillingdon Hospitals Foundation Trust that serves Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s (pictured in Downing Street yesterday) Uxbridge constituency was among those suffering worst

NHS hospitals have been under acute pressure this winter amid a worse than usual flu outbreak

At PMQ’s yesterday, Mrs May launched a staunch defence of government plans and preparations, which included £6billion in extra spending at the Budget. 

She said: ‘There is only one part of the NHS that has seen a cut in its funding – it’s the NHS in Wales under a Labour government.

‘This is a Government that is backing the NHS plan, that is putting more money into the NHS, that is recruiting more doctors and nurses, that is seeing new treatments come on board which ensure people are getting the best treatment they need.’

The PM, who was in Davos today meeting world leaders, has been facing a revolt on her own benches over the state of the health service.

Senior backbenchers have publicly lashed Mrs May for a timid response while Mr Johnson’s allies launched an attempted mutiny at Tuesday’s Cabinet – only to be swatted away by the PM and her few allies.