LABOUR’S candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North tomorrow has said the privatisation of healthcare is “very, very important” and was until recently director of an investment company for fertility services that made nearly £17 million tax-free profit in nine months.

Praful Nargund was filmed giving a talk in March 2015 saying that “as we are in the run-up to a general election in the UK, privatisation of healthcare is very, very important and it’s about what the private sector can do to prove its worth to the public sector.”

He was that month appointed director of strategy and growth at Create Health Holding Limited, which reported paying no tax on nearly £17m in profit for the last nine months of 2021, its Companies House filings show.

Mr Nargund, an Islington borough councillor since 2022 who was a no-show at three elections hustings in a week last month, is also director at a venture capital firm, Creative Impact Ventures, owned by his mother Professor Geeta Nargund.

He resigned from the directorship of Create Health Holding Ltd on December 24 2023. 

The investment holding company has a British subsidiary, the private fertility company Create Health Ltd, which opened six new sites and made an operating profit of £3.5m with a turnover of £35.6m in 2022, filings say. 

Amid reports that an incoming Labour government could increase capital gains tax, the party and Mr Nargund did not respond to questions over whether Mr Nargund would be subject to any wealth taxes the party has resisted committing to.

Jeremy Corbyn, who was barred from standing for Labour despite being the constituency’s MP for more than 40 years, said: “In Islington North, the NHS is on the ballot. 

“I think it is wrong to profit from healthcare.

“Almost half of children in Islington live in poverty. Meanwhile there are more millionaires and billionaires in this country than ever before.”

Co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public Dr Tony O’Sullivan said the campaign group will “never endorse private healthcare” and “is strongly opposed to private healthcare and we are extremely critical of Labour’s intention to promote the private sector, through its intention to use ‘spare capacity’ to ‘help’ the NHS.”

Green Party co-leader Zack Polanski said “the very richest should pay their fair share to help properly fund our front-line services.”

Tax Policy Associates founder Dan Neidle however warned most of the world’s wealth taxes have excluded private businesses and entrepreneurs.