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Waffling Tory MPs have talked for so long they derailed a law designed to stop creeping privatisation of the NHS.

MPs voiced their fury today as just four backbenchers spoke for three and a half hours ahead of the NHS Bill by Caroline Lucas.

Their mammoth speeches meant the ex-Green Party leader had a meagre 17 minutes to put her case in the Commons - which meant her law was shelved without a vote.

The furious MP said "Tory games" had made a "mockery" of Parliament and told MPs their behaviour "risks bringing this house into disrepute".

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Any vote would have almost certainly defeated the law, which aimed to overturn decades of NHS reforms involving the Tories and Labour.

But she told MPs she deserved to be heard, adding: "There are so many people who absolutely want us to get onto the next business, the NHS. It's important.

"I think for them to be talking for so long just isn't courteous either to the rest of the House or to the people outside this building who want to see what's going on."

The Tory MPs gave their enormous speeches not on Ms Lucas's Bill but the one before it - a law less than two pages long that would deport foreign prisoners.

But archaic Parliamentary rules - which are subject to a reform probe - mean whichever Bill is being talked about at 2.30pm has to be shelved.

Despite the day's proceedings starting at 9.30am it took until 2.13pm before Ms Lucas was allowed to start talking.

SNP member Dr Philippa Whitford said the "waste of time" was "shocking".

Ms Lucas added on Twitter: "Feel so angry - people deserve a parliament that works for them."

Tory Philip Hollobone spoke for a staggering hour and 22 minutes to introduce the Bill.

Colleagues Philip Davies spoke for 51 minutes, David Nuttall for 40 minutes and Sir Edward Leigh for 36 minutes.

In her short speech Ms Lucas, whose Bill would have overturned decades of NHS reforms, condemned the rise of firms like Virgin Care in the NHS.

She told MPs her law was backed by NHS staff, campaigners and the British Medical Association. Several SNP members also turned out in support.

She said: "People are rightly worried because the NHS, consistently ranked as one of the best in the world, is under threat as never before

"Under threat from underfunding dressed up as efficiency savings. Under threat from cuts, under threat from the wasteful bidding of the internal market.

"Under threat from the creeping commercialisation and steep increase in corporate sector contracts since the 2012 Health and Social Care Act."

Ms Lucas blasted "stealthy acts of vandalism" that had wrecked the NHS as long ago as Margaret Thatcher's time.

In her final moments she started attacking the "shocking" appointment of former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley - who drove through the Tories' reforms in 2012 - as an advisor to private healthcare firm Bain.

But she could not finish her point because the clock struck 2.30pm.

(Image: WENN.com)