UKIP And Farage Split On NHS Privatisation

Divisions at the top of UKIP have started to emerge after Nigel Farage and his health spokeswoman disagreed over the need for private health insurance to fund the NHS.

The UKIP leader said in an interview that the state-funded health service would in future need to be replaced with a private insurance model.

However, hours later he was slapped down by his own health spokeswoman Louise Bours who said Mr Farage was "entitled to his opinion" but the party had discussed and "rejected" the idea.

Mr Farage had said private health insurance would be a "debate" to be returned to as the health service struggles to cope with an ageing population.

In a video from 2012, which emerged last year, Mr Farage set out his ideas for health funding, saying: "I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare.

"Frankly, I would feel more comfortable that my money would return value if I was able to do that through the market place of an insurance company than just us trustingly giving £100 billion a year to central government and expecting them to organise the healthcare service from cradle to grave for us."

In the interview for Radio 4's Can Democracy Work? today, Mr Farage added: "There is no question that healthcare provision is going to have to be very much greater in 10 years than it is today, with an ageing population, and we're going to have to find ways to do it."

He has also said no foreigners should be allowed into the UK unless they can prove they have private health insurance to pay for medical expenses.

NHS funding has become a key battleground ahead of the General Election with the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems all pledging increases in state funding.

In parts of the country Labour has seen UKIP make inroads into its support and a move to privatising the NHS would likely prove a vote loser.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said a vote for UKIP was a "vote for the privatisation of the NHS".

He added: "UKIP claim to stand up for working people, but in reality they are more Tory than the Tories. Farage will never be able to distance himself from his real views. He should be honest with the public."

Ms Bours told the Huffington Post: "What people have to realise about UKIP is that we are much more democratic than other parties.

"Nigel is entitled to his opinion and others are entitled to theirs, we don't whip people into all thinking the same thing, like the establishment parties. As he has said before, he raised the idea for discussion a while ago, the party discussed it and rejected it.

"I am certain that if the party discuss it again, we will reject it again. The vast majority of UKIP members, the British public and I will always favour a state-funded NHS."