By Jane Kirby

Copyright standard

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is a “con artist” and the country faces “a battle of progressives against reactionaries, patriotism versus nationalism”, Wes Streeting has said.

Speaking at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, the Health Secretary told delegates that NHS founders created a national health service to “provide the people of our country with the care they need, not just the care they can afford” but Mr Farage intended to create an insurance-based system.

He said: “I’m here today to defend that promise, and friends, we are in the fight of our lives, not just for the NHS or even for the survival of this Government, but for everything we believe in.

“It is a battle of progressives against reactionaries, patriotism versus nationalism, hope not hate.

“Our country is being confronted with choices about who we are and what we stand for, and nowhere do those choices come together more starkly than our National Health Service.

“The founding principles of the NHS are now contested for the first time in generations.

“Farage wants to replace the NHS with an insurance system.

“His vision for healthcare is a system that checks your pockets before your pulse and asks for your credit card before your care.

“Well, it might be right for Mr Moneybags. We know he can afford it, but what about those who can’t?

“We should know by now that man is a con artist posing as the voice of the people whilst working for the interests of the powerful.”