The government could spy on our little ones with microchips in the swamps to ease pressure on the NHS.

Today, the health minister said that monitoring urinals using new technology could help doctors detect diseases in time.

Steve Barkley even compared it to sharing information on Facebook or Instagram, saying: “People trust a California data company more than the UK government.”

Speaking at the Spectator Health conference, he said: “Put a chip in a urinal and it will tell someone who doesn’t even know they have the disease.”

And he called for a national “conversation with patients” about “the right opportunities around data”.

Mr Barclay suggested high-tech data collection techniques such as toilet chips would close the NHS backlog and boost the UK economy.

But he insisted that this could only be done with proper consent.

“I think if patients want to be able to get early treatment and are therefore willing to rely on their data, provided it can be done in the right way with the right safeguards, that’s a conversation we need to have,” he said. .

“This in turn also creates an opportunity for UK plc around our life sciences and around our future exports because it will create an ecosystem around our universities.”

But last night Labor hit out at the idea of ​​toilet surveillance, accusing Mr Barclay of “taking a p*ss”.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “After 12 years of Conservative mismanagement, the time to wait for the NHS is over.

“Instead he should adopt Labour’s plan, scrap the disabled and train thousands of new doctors and nurses.”

Meanwhile, Tory MPs accused their party of spending too much time flirting with the nanny.

One Tory MP blasted: “This ridiculous idea should just be flushed down the toilet. The Conservative Party needs to quickly lose its appetite for a large nanny state.

“Any policy that infringes on the right to privacy without express consent – ​​including toilet tapping – should be repealed.

“Society deserves to be able to do something as basic as going to the bathroom without the state scrutinizing their every move.”