Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP responding to the Government’s confusion over the cancer guarantee said:

"This debacle confirms what we suspected - that the Tories are making up health policy as they go along. The Government's position on the cancer guarantee is now a complete shambles.

“First David Cameron refuses to say whether the guarantee will be scrapped. Then his health minister steps in to say that there is 'no question' of it going. And now his official spokesman tells us the 'real position': it might stay or it might go, but the Government refuses to make a decision.

“They can twist and turn all they like, but they can't hide the fact that they refuse to give a clear guarantee of fast access to a specialist for people with suspected cancer."