UK election 2024 live updates: Exit polls suggest Labour is headed for a landslide victory

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Crisis in the UK’s NHS shows why Conservatives are struggling after 14 years in power Nathaniel Dye changes his stoma bag at home in London, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Dye, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer and faced delays in treatment, is hoping the opposition Labour Party will win the July 4 election and fix problems with Britain’s National Health Service. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Nathaniel Dye believes he probably won’t live to see Britain’s next election. But the music teacher diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer is doing everything he can to make sure the Labour Party wins this one. Dismayed by delays in his diagnosis by the National Health Service, the 38-year-old says he feels let down by the Conservative-led government, which health policy experts say has failed to adequately fund the NHS. As a result, he played a central role in the launch of Labour’s election platform earlier this month, going on national television to urge voters to back the party. “I’ve seen underfunding of the NHS and mismanagement of the NHS cause real problems in the way I’ve been treated,” he told The Associated Press. “And I suppose I consider it the most natural thing in the world to talk to people on a personal level and say, ‘What can we do to improve things?’” No public service is as central to life in the United Kingdom as the NHS, and it is failing to deliver on its promise to provide free health care to everyone. The NHS is creaking under the weight of an aging and growing population, years of funding constraints, and fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. That means people are waiting longer for everything from primary care appointments to elective surgery and cancer treatment. Some 52% of people were dissatisfied with the NHS last year, 29 percentage points higher than in 2020, according to the British Social Attitudes Survey, conducted annually since 1983. ▶ Read more about the UK’s NHS crisis.