Keir Starmer on Rod Stewart offering to pay for medical scans


The Labour leader says it is “absolutely fundamental” that health care remans free at the point of need.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has offered to go for “a singalong with Rod Stewart and thank him for his words” after the star described the situation in the NHS as “ridiculous”.

Sir Rod offered live on TV to pay for up to 20 hospital scans after patients spoke about experiencing long waiting lists in the NHS.

The 78-year-old singer-songwriter, who lives in Harlow, Essex, phoned into Sky News on the channel’s “Your Say” segment, which covered people sharing their experience of health care, in an unscheduled appearance.

Sir Rod said he had attended a private clinic on Thursday that was basically “empty” and was prompted to call in to the show after hearing about the “ridiculous” situation in the NHS.

“There are people dying because they cannot get scans,” Sir Rod said.

On a visit to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow this morning, the Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the comments made by the singer.

“I’ll go along for a sing-a-long with Rod Stewart and thank him for his words yesterday” he told ITV News Anglia.

“I think he actually reflected a mood across the country which is, so much is broken and not working and I think there’s a real frustration that things have been brought to this point by the Government.”

“It’s a general sense also that Rod picked up on which is, look this government is clapped out frankly.”

The musician also gave his backing to Labour after being a previous Conservative supporter.

Rod Stewart: Tories should stand down and give Labour a go