DENNIS SKINNER paid tribute to the NHS at the Labour Party conference today, saying it is the only reason he is still alive.

The 86-year-old Bolsover MP joked that he hopes to still be in Parliament for the next Labour government because he wants to “nationalise something every week.”

He recounted how he told a “Ukip man” in the Commons that he had been treated by a Malaysian surgeon, a Nigerian registrar, a Syrian cardiologist and Dutch doctor.