An NHS doctor received a round of applause after delivering a ‘heartfelt’ speech about the upcoming General Election on a busy rush hour train.

Jack Milln, 33, was on an overground train between New Cross Gate and Canada Water on November 13 when he decided to beg the public to not base their vote on Brexit, and instead think about two issues on December 12: the NHS and the climate crisis.

He left commuters ‘inspired’ and went viral when a stranger filmed him and uploaded the video online.

In his speech, Jack told the ‘silent’ carriage of commuters that old allegiances to political parties no longer mattered and they must choose a party that will put the two important issues to the forefront.

In the footage, which has received more than 3,900 likes and 2,200 shares so far, he said: ‘I urge you to think about two issues.

‘I think you’ll agree they’re important but they’re close to my heart as well.

‘First is the NHS. I’ve been a doctor working in the NHS for ten years now and I’ve watched it degrade over the time since I graduated from chronic under funding.

‘They say they’re putting more money in, but it doesn’t keep up with demand.

‘When I’m seeing your mum or your dad in the corridors because there’s no beds and I’m having to apologise because they’re not getting the service when they’re having a heart attack.

‘The hospitals are already full in August, I don’t know what’s going to happen this winter.

‘The second, of course, is the climate crisis. We’re out of a time of projections and wondering if it’s happening, we’re watching it happen now.

‘We’re in the sixth mass extinction on this planet, it’s not projections, we’re counting species going extinct.

‘So think about a party that puts the climate crisis at the absolute heart of its policies.

‘We can’t go on in the way that we are.’

The specialist register, who works for Barts Health in endocrinology and general internal medicine, now plans to do a speech every day in the lead up to the election and says a number of doctors he knows are considering doing the same thing.

Jack told Metro.co.uk that he felt it was his ‘duty’ to speak up.

He said: ‘On a commuter train, everyone stands in absolute silence and it’s partly our English manners or cultural awkwardness perhaps.

‘I was really nervous to speak in that environment but this just means so much, it’s so crucial, that was the stronger emotion inside me.

‘After I did it yesterday, I thought ‘why don’t I try and do it every day from now until the election?’

‘I made a point of not naming any political parties, I just urged people not to base their vote on Brexit.’

The doctor, who is a member of Extinction Rebellion, decided to speak out on the two issues after seeing patients affected by cuts and colleagues quit the medical profession after being put under massive pressure.

He says the NHS is currently resting on people’s passion and ‘it’s about how far that can be pushed’.

He said: ‘When you’re stretched, you get to a tipping point and then the whole service gets demoralised, and then doctors and nurses begin to leave because it’s not a good working environment, and then there are more gaps in the rota and then you’re more stretched.

‘You see how that cycle of degradation happens and that’s the sad thing, I’ve watched that happen over a number of years in the NHS under this government.’

Jack was inspired by seeing Dr Helena Clements, a consultant paediatrician in Nottinghamshire, make a similar speech and says it’s important for people to hear other points of view and not engage in their own echo chamber.

Speaking about the reaction to his speech on the train, he said: ‘Some people looked and some carried on listening on their headphones.

‘Both times I’ve done it, people afterwards have said ‘thank you so much, that was really great’ and we’ve started talking.

‘Each time, I’ve been on the train for ten minutes afterwards and we’ve talked all the way until one of us got off.

‘I was really nervous, my heart was right in my throat and I nearly went for it and then I thought ‘another stop’s coming up, shall I do it?’

‘And then I thought ‘if I get off this train and I haven’t done it, how am I going to feel afterwards?’

The commuter who filmed Jack on the overground Lucy Fyson – who is a big supporter of the St Mary’s Hospital strike – said she was ‘delighted’ to see Jack making his speech.

Lucy said: ‘He was great. Someone on there was saying ‘somebody set this up’.

‘I literally didn’t, I just walked on the tube.

‘I was delighted, I grabbed my camera and virtually couldn’t move it because it was so squashed

‘It was so sincere, so heartfelt.’

Follow Jack on @JackMilln for updates on his daily speeches.

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