Rishi Sunak has been accused of “laughing in the faces of voters”, after an awkward confrontation while meeting voters in the South East.
Walking around Winchester, the Prime Minister was caught on camera being heckled by an upset voter about the state of the NHS.
The clip, captured by an off-duty Sky News cameraman, began mid-confrontation, with the PM seen explaining to the lady how strike rates had been improving towards the end of last year.
She said: “Last year we had two months with virtually no strikes in October and November… and do you know what happened? The waiting list fell by 150,000 in those two months. And it just shows that when there aren’t strikes we really can make progress.”
While the voter praised the successes towards the end of last year, she retorted that the Prime Minister “could stop it all”.
She said: “You could make it all go back to how it used to be, where we had…”
At this point, Mr Sunak burst out laughing, while the voter clarified: “Not literally.”
Continuing, she pleaded: “But where, if you had a problem you could go to the hospital.”
When she carried on to complain about one recent incident where her daughter spent seven hours waiting, Mr Sunak walked off.
One handler was heard saying “we’d better get going to the next…”, while the voter trailed after the PM explaining her problems.
While the clip circulating on social media ends there and sparked criticism from Labour and the Lib Dems, the extended footage shows Mr Sunak continued his conversation while walking, and told the concerned woman he was “sorry to hear” about the unpleasant experience.
He continued arguing that the “key thing is we have resolved all the [inaudible] apart from the junior doctors who are still not saying yes, but everyone else has said yes”.
The clip ends amicably, with the voter giving the Prime Minister a handshake and saying: “Thank you.”
Mr Sunak’s handling of the confrontation has now been criticised, with Labour’s Wes Streeting accusing him of “laughing in the faces of voters”.
He said: “Rishi Sunak has no idea of the misery NHS patients are going through.
“When patients try to tell him, he laughs in their faces and walks away. When Sunak asks for their vote later this year, he will get a taste of his own medicine.”
The Lib Dems also piled in, accusing him of either “not caring or not getting it”.
They said: “Out of touch does not even begin to describe Rishi Sunak’s attitude to the NHS. Whilst his government cuts funding for the NHS it is patients that are suffering, waiting endlessly in pain.
“Laughing in the face of a former health worker whilst they are trying to explain to him the dire straits the NHS is in is frankly shocking.
“The Prime Minister either does not care or he does not get it. This Conservative government cannot be trusted with our NHS.”
Meanwhile Patrick O’Flynn, former Ukip MEP and Express columnist, compared Mr Sunak to Gordon Brown’s infamous interaction with Gillian Duffy, where he was caught on mic accusing her of being a “bigoted woman”.
He said: “Real spoilt-little-rich-boy stuff from the PM here, turning away with a “yep”. Displaying contempt for the electorate seldom works well as a vote-winner.
“More similarities with Brown and Gillian Duffy than with Blair patiently hearing out Sharon Storer.”
