Prime Minister's Questions - Public Services

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): When the Prime Minister uses the word "choice" in relation to the delivery of public services, what does he mean?

The Prime Minister: I mean that as capacity in the health service, for example, expands so that we have more nurses, doctors and hospital provision, and the new diagnostic and treatment centres, we can say to the patient, "Instead of having to wait as long as you used to wait, you can choose to go to where there is capacity in the national health service." That is our position, in counterpoint to the position of the Conservative party, which is to say that people who can afford half the payment to go privately get choice. That is the difference between Labour choice within the national health service, and Tory choice to go out of it.