Diane Abbott tore into Labour’s Wes Streeting in a row over reforming the NHS.
The Shadow Health Secretary argued what the ailing service needs most is reform rather than extra money.
But Ms Abbott, who currently sits as an independent MP after losing the Labour whip, insisted Mr Streeting “doesn’t know what he’s talking about”.
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said in a post on social media platform X: “The population is ageing and growing. It is getting sicker too as the effects of austerity bite.
“There are also rising costs in the NHS especially with medical equipment and many drugs.
“Of course the NHS needs more money. Wes Streeting doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
In an interview with The Sun, Mr Streeting said NHS reform will be a top priority if Labour takes power.
The Labour politician said: “You can’t just keep on pouring ever-increasing amounts of money into a leaky bucket, you’ve got to deal with the bucket itself.”
Mr Streeting also vowed that Labour would crack down on NHS waste.
And he accused his own party of having been too “nostalgic” about the health service.
He said: “I think there are times when the Labour Party is led too heavily into nostalgia.
“It would be the easiest thing in the world to go into the next general election just saying ‘worst crisis in NHS history’, ‘you can’t trust the Tories on the NHS’, ‘you’ve got 24 hours to save the NHS’ and, by the way, here’s a nice sepia film of Nye Bevan.”
