Conservative MP Dan Poulter defects to Labor

Conservative MP Dan Poulter defects to Labor

A British MP and former member of the Conservative government has just defected while the upcoming legislative elections promise to be complicated for the Conservative government, already largely left behind by the Labor opposition.

2 mins

With our correspondent in London, Émeline Vin

Former Under-Secretary of State for Health, Conservative MP since 2010, Dan Poulter said Saturday to The Observerthe Sunday publication of Guardian that he was joining the Labor Party.

Dan Poulter remains a psychiatrist in his constituency in the east of England and says he witnesses, week after week, the deterioration of public hospital (NHS). Delays in emergency rooms, exhausted staff, poorly treated patients… “ The Conservative government has failed on what matters most to meexplains Dan Poulter, and I cannot continue to support this. »

A deep hospital crisis in the United Kingdom

Since the Tories came to power in 2010, the public hospital has gone through austerity and working conditions for employees and treatment for patients have deteriorated. Nearly 8 million patients are on the waiting list to consult a specialist or begin treatment, including for cancers.

It is abundantly clear to me that only the Labor Party has the will and confidence to restore and reform the NHS “, he declared to The Observer. “ That’s why we need a Labor government, and that’s why I think Keir Starmer must lead this government as the next Prime Minister », insisted the MP.

Dan Poulter decides to join the Labor opposition, slightly weakening the conservative majority. Labor leader Keir Starmer welcomed the defection on Twitter. The psychiatrist, who will not run again in the next elections, also denounces the movement of his ex-party increasingly towards the right and nationalism.

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