Labour defends health record

The Labour Party has sought to put health at the heart of its local election campaign.

Under a new "the NHS is better with Labour" slogan, ministers were making a series of hospital visits across the country in a bid to highlight their pledge to reduce the maximum waiting time to just 18 weeks by the end of next year.

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt was visiting Walsall Hospital, one of a number on track to meet the target 12 months ahead of schedule.

She was seeking to counter the Conservative campaign to "save the NHS" from government cuts, insisting it is a "Labour issue".

"It always has been, and it always will be," Hewitt said ahead of the trip.

"This will be a front-foot campaign, with Labour on the streets setting out our message.

"The NHS was made by Labour and since 1997 it has been saved by Labour.

"The NHS is crafted in Labour values - it is health treatment for all, free at the point of need."

Hewitt played down the Tory leader's promise to make the NHS his priority, saying it was merely rhetoric.

"David Cameron gives a good impression but his actions speak louder than warm words on the NHS," she said.
 
"He has voted against Labour's extra investment in the NHS, voted against the dramatic falls in waiting times, voted against the extra nurses and doctors and simply cannot be trusted with our health service."

Meanwhile Labour also stepped up its internet campaigning, launching a new betterwithlabour.co.uk website.