Matt Goodwin

Matt Goodwin

The Hypocrisy of NHS Progressives

What morally righteous progressives will never tell you

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Matt Goodwin
Dec 12, 2025
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Here’s a scene you see almost weekly on British television.

Somebody like Nigel Farage or another Reform politician suggests that the country needs to lower immigration to which somebody on the “progressive” left —think Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn, Zack Polanski, Ed Davey, or James O’Brien—instantly responds: “we cannot do that, the National Health Service will collapse!”

For the virtue-signalling progressive left, the NHS is absolutely central to their pro-immigration views, a powerful symbol of their sense of fairness, empathy, and compassion for others. And it will also be key to their attacks on Reform at the next election, where the same argument will constantly be rolled out to bash Farage.

But there’s something they are not telling you.

When it comes to the NHS, the progressive left are not virtuous at all —they are deeply hypocritical, hiding something that is grossly unethical, immoral, and unfair. And I think it’s about time that somebody calls it out. What am I talking about?

Here is a question that nobody in Westminster is willing to ask, let alone answer:

Why does Britain reject thousands of its own talented, ambitious young people from becoming doctors every single year — while simultaneously importing tens of thousands of doctors from the poorest, most medically deprived countries on earth?

Look at the latest numbers. They are not just shocking —they are unbelievable.

This year, according to UCAS’s 2026 cycle data, 25,770 young people in Britain applied to study medicine. But how many state-funded places were available? Just 8,126.

Last year? More than 23,000 applications for 8,126 places. The year before that? More than 24,000 applications for fewer than 8,000 places.

The pattern never changes because it is designed not to change. Each year, like clockwork, the British state —supported by Uniparty politicians in Westminster—quietly rejects more than 15,000 young British people from the opportunity to become doctors while simultaneously lecturing the country, proclaiming the health service would “collapse” unless we continue to import thousands of doctors from abroad.

Those young British people are not being rejected because they lack the grades, the talent, the determination. No. They are being rejected simply because our leaders refuse to fund more places for them —they think it’s too difficult, too “complex”, too problematic, to invest in their own people.

Meanwhile, what does the government do? It recruits —aggressively—from overseas. In the late 1950s, only about 12% of NHS doctors were trained overseas. By 2019, that figure had surged to 37%. Today —according to the General Medical Council—it is over 40%. Astonishingly, Britain now imports more doctors than it trains each year.

The shift began in 2018, when — for the first time— more internationally trained doctors joined the NHS than UK graduates. It has accelerated every year since.

Last year …

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