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Angela Rayner has been branded a liar following the remarks she made about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's plans for the NHS should the party come into power. Rayner posted a clip to X where she was seen telling schoolchildren Farage wants a "more insurance-style system that means you have to pay, and that means that it's not free at the point of use anymore."

Analysing her remarks as part of Kevin O'Sullivan's Plank of the Week panel on TalkTV Political Journalist and commentator Ellie Hodges remarked that her claims were sticking and damaging Reform. She said: "I think it's a very distasteful thing to say to people who aren't voting and actually haven't made their mind up yet and don't know all of the facts. But I think this line about Reform wanting to privatise the NHS has stuck. It's definitely stuck, because I've been in situations where, even on the train a couple of days ago, someone was on the phone saying, I actually really like Reform policies, but I can't afford to pay for the NHS, so it has stuck."

They then cut to the clip in which Rayner was seen responding to a schoolboy who said he thought Farage would be a better prime minister than Keir Starmer.

"Nigel Farage says that he wants a system that is a more insurance-style system," Rayner told him. "That means you have to pay, and that means that it's not free at the point of use anymore.

"I think that is really dangerous territory. I'd be okay in that system - I'd benefit from it now. But when I was growing up, I wouldn't have benefited from it.

"And my son probably wouldn't have survived," she added, referring to her middle child Charlie, who was born prematurely at 23 weeks in 2008 and is registered blind with special educational needs. He later received NHS compensation due to birth injuries

After watching the clip, fellow panellist, broadcaster Peter C. Barnes, described it as grotesque while Hodges declared it "a lie." Political commentator Chloe Barnes declared her statement was "probably illegal." The video was widely slammed after it was posted on Tuesday, May 5.

A Reform spokesman hit back: "It's pretty telling that Labour have to sink to new lows by using schoolchildren to spread their lies. We look forward to seeing the results in Angela Rayner's constituency on Thursday."

Ben Bradley, the party's head of local government delivery, added: "Angela Rayner openly lying to school children about Nigel Farage and Reform - even suggesting that children would die if Reform were in government - based on a fake policy that Nigel and many others in Reform have consistently said is untrue.

"This is really, really bad. Using children for political points. Lying to them about your opposition. Scaring them with falsehoods, and posting it online yourself because you're somehow proud of it. This woman could be PM in a few weeks."