Labour would end wait for cancer surgery

A no wait commitment for cancer surgery was pledged by the Labour party this week at its annual conference in Blackpool, the last before a general election that could give Britain a Labour government next year. Health spokesman Chris Smith said that the pledge would be funded by savings of £100m ($150m) made by cutting NHS bureaucracy, which Labour estimates could reduce waiting lists by 100 000.

But Mr Jim Johnson, a vascular surgeon and chairman of the BMA's Central Consultants and Specialists Committee, said that an attack on waiting lists should …