- Has repeatedly called for end to NHS funding from general taxation
- Warnings of “two-tier system”, “second-rate” care
NIGEL Farage said on Sky News in April 2025: “I do not want [the NHS] funded through general taxation. It doesn’t work. It’s not working.” Despite backtracking months later, Farage is on the record with similar comments back to 2012, when he said: “I think we’re going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare.”
He said in 2024: “The funding of the NHS is a total failure. The French do it much better with less funding. There is a lesson there. If you can afford it, you pay; if you can’t, you don’t.”
In reality, expenditure in the French healthcare system is 21% higher per person than in the UK system. The independent Nuffield Trust say there is no magic fix without more investment.
In France, patients generally have to pay out of pocket for appointments and treatments, then claim reimbursement: usually 70% from the state and the rest from mandatory insurance.
Such processes add more costly, frustrating bureaucracy. 30% of US healthcare spending goes on administration.
Economist Richard Murphy warned Farage would implement a two-tier system where “the rich buy the best cover, others get a second-rate service”. The Nuffield Trust warned private insurers will try every trick to avoid covering those with serious risk factors.
83% of the UK public support keeping the NHS funded by general taxation, found the Health Foundation in September 2025.
