Eleciton on a ‘knife-edge’ as Cameron promises seven-day NHS

David Cameron has admitted the General Election is on a “knife-edge” as he set out to woo voters with the promise of a “truly seven-day” NHS if the Conservatives are returned to power on May 7.

Addressing activists at the Tory spring conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister sought to cast the contest as a personal battle with Ed Mililand, accusing the Labour leader of heading a “bunch of hypocritical, holier-than-thou, hopeless, sneering socialists”.

He said that a Conservative government would ensure patients across England would be given full access to hospital services seven-days a week by the end of the parliament in 2020.

He coupled his promise of better healthcare with a blistering personal attack on Mr Miliband, warning that the Labour leader was not up to the demands of leading the country.

“Now five years in this job teaches you some things. I know what this role needs – and frankly, I don’t think Ed Miliband has it,” he said.

“Some might say ‘Don’t make this personal’, but when it comes to who’s prime minister, the personal is national.

“The guy who forgot to mention the deficit could be the one in charge of our whole economy.

“The man who is too weak to stand up to the trade unions at home could be the one facing down our enemies abroad.

“The leader who thinks leadership is climbing aboard the latest bandwagon – he could be the one taking the make-or-break calls in the middle of the night.”

Mr Cameron said that only he or Mr Miliband could enter No 10 after May 7 – as he accused the Labour leader of planning to “crawl up Downing Street on the coat-tails of the SNP”.

He said that under Mr Miliband, Labour was no longer the party of working people, having betrayed its traditional values.

“The truth is that Miliband’s Labour Party isn’t about liberating working people – it’s about telling you what to do,” he said.

“The same old condescending, bossy, interfering, we-know-best attitude of the Hampstead socialist down the ages.”

On the NHS, he acknowledged that gaining access to healthcare services outside normal working hours was “too hard” but pledged that would change under a Conservative government.

“For years it’s been too hard to access the NHS out of hours. But illness doesn’t respect working hours. Heart attacks, major accidents, babies – these things don’t just come from nine to five,” he will say.

“And the truth is that you are actually more likely to die if you turn up at the hospital at the weekend. Some of the resources are not up and running. The key decision-makers aren’t always there.

“With a future Conservative government, we would have a truly seven day NHS.

“Already millions more people can see a GP seven days a week, but by 2020 I want this for everyone with hospitals properly staffed, especially for urgent and emergency care, so that everyone will have access to the NHS services they need seven days a week by 2020 – the first country in the world to make this happen.”