Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr Tony O’Sullivan told the Morning Star: “The government trying to spin the standard amount of time potential cancer patients will now have to wait as some sort of improvement only adds insult to injury.

“More lives will be put at risk as a result of these proposed delays.

“The UK is already falling behind on cancer targets, with targets not being met since 2015 as a result of a sustained lack of government investment in the NHS.

“The appropriate response to a service that is failing to meet vital targets should be to invest more time and resources, not to simply move the goalposts and give up on the targets altogether.

“The government is playing fast and loose here with the lives of people at some of the most difficult times in their lives — it is wholly unacceptable.”