PMQs: Is the NHS safe in anyone's hands?

Today marked something of a departure from recent sessions of Prime Minister’s Questions, in that the central theme was not energy prices. Since the Labour party conference, Ed Miliband has been hammering away at the subject of energy prices, not least because the focus groups have told him that people love it—and the evidence of his own eyes will tell him that he government hates it. On this one subject alone, Miliband has ridden out of the terrible political wilderness of the summer and into much more favourable autumnal territory.

But today saw a change. In place of energy prices came the other great Labour rallying subject—the NHS. In his first question Miliband got straight to it, asking the Prime Minister whether he could guarantee that there would be no crisis in Accident and Emergency departments this winter. As it is impossible to predict the future with 100 per cent certainty, Cameron responded to the question by listing a series of statistics that, he claimed, were evidence of an NHS in rude health. The Prime Minister concluded his comments by noting the terrible state of health care in Wales, where the system is presently overseen by Labour.

To this Miliband responded by saying that the PM was wrong about the figures and that “there already is a crisis,” in A&E wards. Cameron shouted back that A&E wards were now treating 1.2m more patients than under Labour, at which the noise in the chamber had become so awful that the Speaker intervened to demand calm from the crowd.

The debate, such as it was, continued in this manner for the remainder of the exchange between leaders. Both Miliband and Cameron took it in turns to list the facts and statistics that each contended gave the true picture of the present state of the NHS. Cameron pointed to the 20,000 fewer administrators in the health service, while Miliband put the number of managers receiving six-figure pay-offs in the thousands, which he contended is a sign of the government’s profligacy. Cameron countered, saying that the government had saved £4.5bn by reducing the number of managers in the NHS. Miliband called Cameron “clueless,” saying that the NHS was “not safe in his hands.”

And so it went. The session was of the worst and most useless kind. It was marked not by a debate over the meaning of facts, but over the facts themselves. Is the health service viable? The Government says absolutely, the Opposition claims a national catastrophe is imminent. What can be made of such a debate—what concluded? Nothing, other than that it is not a debate at all, and that politics is moving now towards hyper-partisan electoral countdown mode.

So there they sat—two multi-millionaire attendees of the same university—dressed identically, of similar height and build, shouting at one another about hospitals, and then also briefly trade unions. Towards the end of the session when David Winnick (Labour, Walsall N) stood and asked how the Prime Minister, “who has never known financial insecurity,” could possibly understand the country that he runs, it became very clear that the charge in his question could just as easily apply to the leader of the Labour party. Miliband sat very still throughout the question, which in keeping with the odiousness of the proceedings, was answered by the Prime Minister with a workmanlike reading of a slew of economic statistics. Expect more of this—18 months more.