BLAIRITE shadow health minister Liz Kendall has insisted that an NHS role for the private sector will remain under a Labour government.

In an interview with House magazine published yesterday, Ms Kendall credited private companies with providing a “challenge” to the public sector and helping to cut NHS waiting lists.

And the vice-chair of Labour’s Progress faction said private providers will continue to have an “important role” to play in the health service.

“There will remain a role for the private and voluntary sectors where they can add extra capacity to the NHS or challenges to the system,” she said.

“I believe what matters is what works. That’s what I’ve always believed in and I continue to believe in.”

Her comments were seized on by Tories, who said her pragmatic position was in stark contrast to that taken by anti-privatistion shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.

Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt even praised her on Twitter, writing that she was “talking sense.”

Socialist Health Association spokesman Martin Rathfelder said: “The NHS has always used private providers, including GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists.

“But competition is not often helpful in health services because patients often are in no position to make meaningful choices.”

Defending her position, Ms Kendall added: “Salami slicing cuts and simply putting things out to tender isn’t what I call real reform.

“That isn’t to say that there isn’t an important role for the independent and private sectors. But real reform is more difficult than that.”