Wes Streeting
MP for Ilford North · Labour · United Kingdom
“We hope for the best and plan for the worst in terms of the continuation of this war, but we are also actively working to prepare for conditions in which a ceasefire has been agreed by Ukraine, with Ukraine and, from our perspective, for Ukraine.”
“The threats we face are not only evolving; they are getting closer to home. Every day, the UK and our allies encounter espionage, cyber-attacks and military posturing by hostile states.”
“One discipline I have to bring to the Ministry of Defence, drawing on my experience at the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS, is to ensure there is no culture of routine overspending, that we are improving productivity, that we deliver value for money and that we recognise that the money we are investing in defence comes wi…”
“With permission, I will make my first statement to the House as Secretary of State for Defence on Ukraine, the ongoing threat from Russia and the Government’s approach. It is not yet clear whether freedom or tyranny will define the 21st century. What is clear is that the United Kingdom will not be a bystander in that struggle.”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that very serious and important issue. She will understand that, as a matter of policy, I will not comment on intelligence, but I will address the reports she has raised.”
“We know that this Prime Minister and this Chancellor are both fully committed to funding our nation’s defence, including meeting our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035 and setting out an earlier 3% commitment at the next spending review.”
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“Friend has fought their corner and spoken up for their concerns—not just on the Floor of the House, but in meetings with Ministers. He keeps us anchored in the sentiment and experiences of all parts of the profession, especially resident doctors. I know that my hon. Friend feels a real commitment to ensuring that resident doctors have a bright future and a bright career. I hope they will heed his advice, just as I do.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the need to address bottlenecks and to do adequate workforce planning. He draws attention to his son, in the Gallery, who is a resident doctor and no doubt a voter—it is almost tempting to break the rules and start appealing to voters in the Gallery for a yes vote in the survey. I would say one thing to any resident doctors who are watching, and not just the immediate members of my hon. Friend’s family. I do listen carefully to what resident doctors say and how they feel, so I know there will be some who are listening to my hon. Friend and thinking, “It’s all right for you and your generation—you’ve had it easy. We are fed up with these consultants and college presidents telling us what to think and feel.” I hope that they know the extent to which my hon.”
“Doctors have not had a bad deal from this Government, frankly, and I have a responsibility to all parts of the NHS workforce, especially those who are lowest paid and who often lie awake at night worrying about their bills.”
“That is a very thoughtful and appropriate question. Just to reassure the House, the Minister of State for Health and I have been working with Agenda for Change unions, particularly Unison, the Royal College of Nursing and GMB, to ensure that we are dealing with the structural reform of Agenda for Change that they are seeking. We have been exploring how we can deliver fairer pay for other parts of the NHS workforce and an improvement to the conditions and status of the nursing profession specifically, while maintaining fairness for all NHS workers. That is one of the considerations I have had to bear in mind when it comes to what we can offer the BMA and resident doctors. I have been very clear with the resident doctor reps about that privately, and I am happy to restate that publicly.”
“My hon. Friend makes a really good point. Sometimes during ballots people who are opposed to industrial action choose not to cast a ballot at all because they know that the turnout threshold is material. In the coming days, it is absolutely vital that every resident doctor makes their voice heard. This is their chance to tell me and their reps how they want to proceed on this deal. I respect the fact that the resident doctors committee has chosen today to present the deal in neutral terms to its members so that they can make a choice. I really do respect that. Now I urge resident doctors to make their views known and take the opportunity in front of them so that we can move forward together to make real changes to their lives.”
“I regret to say that if the BMA rejects this offer, we will not proceed with it at this time. I wish that we were not in this transactional lock. I wish we could just move forward together in a spirit of partnership, with a bit of give and take. That is not where we are, and I think I would be crucified by the public if I were to take a different approach. It would be the wrong thing to do and it would incentivise people to strike further, and I cannot tolerate that any longer.”
“My hon. Friend has so much expertise on health and on employment rights and trade union law, and he is right. That is why this Government have chosen a different approach. We want to work with all our trade unions, we want to work with the BMA, and we can still do so if we hit the reset button and each of us commits to building a more constructive relationship.”
“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his support. He is right to raise concerns about the impact on urgent emergency care. We will do our best to keep the show on the road, but I cannot make guarantees in the way that I would want to about the quality or timeliness of care. I place on record my thanks to my counterpart in Northern Ireland, Mike Nesbitt, as well as to my counterparts in Wales and Scotland, for the constructive approach that they have taken in making this possible.”
“I should also declare that I am a member of the GMB and Unison. I say to my hon. Friend that there is a striking inconsistency between what the BMA is demanding for its members and what it proposes to pay its own staff. There is a word for that. In the spirit of trying to engage more constructively, I will not use it. However, I urge the BMA to engage constructively with us and with its own staff. It certainly will not want to see me on the picket lines outside BMA House.”
“I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that the royal college fees that I outlined in my statement will be covered by us. That will be a material saving in resident doctors’ pockets. Exam fees will also be backdated, recognising that many doctors will have already done those exams and paid the fees. I hope that that gives my hon. Friend and resident doctors in her constituency the confidence that this is a good deal and one that we can move forward on and campaign on together.”
“Of course, my concern is always patients, first and foremost, but it has been playing on my mind and my conscience that, going into this December, a lot of consultants, nurses, allied health professionals and other NHS staff are more tired than they would otherwise have been because they are putting in those extra shifts and extra effort both to cover the previous round of strikes and then to help the NHS to recover in that long tail that follows in the days and weeks afterwards. I really feel for them at the moment because of the conditions they are working in. I think all of us would breathe a sigh of relief—and also, frankly, express a great deal of gratitude, myself included—if the BMA were to take up the offer of postponing strikes until January. It is not too late. I urge it to think about that overnight and to do the right thing.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. To be honest, the thing that causes me most anxiety is that, although I know that the NHS is on the road to recovery, we are surrounded by an enormous amount of jeopardy. We need, as much as we possibly can, to make sure that we are not inflicting avoidable damage or setbacks on our progress, and it feels like that is what this round of strike action represents. My hon. Friend is right to praise NHS leaders and managers. I know how emotionally invested they are in seeing their patients and their staff through this Christmas, and I urge resident doctors and the BMA to take up not only the deal but the opportunity to at least put off strike action to January.”
“We have people we can work with on the resident doctors committee, but I think we are going to have to grasp the olive branch as it is presented today so that we can make more progress in the new year.”
“I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. This is the point that I have impressed on the chair of the resident doctors committee. This deal is not the end of the conversation about jobs and career development in the NHS, because there are plenty of problems for us to solve. Although we cannot afford to go further on pay this year, what we have done so far—28.9%—is not the extent of what the Government can and are willing to do on pay. It just requires a bit of give and take, and I think we will make much more constructive and meaningful progress if we work together. I have my part to play in that, and from my point of view, we need to reset the relationship. It has hit the buffers somewhat in recent weeks. I am willing to do that.”
“I congratulate my hon. Friend on all his campaigning to secure investment in his constituency. One thing I can assure everyone in our country is that NHS leaders, frontline staff and I will do everything we can to mitigate harm during these strikes; I am afraid what I cannot do is guarantee that there will be no harm. That is the thing that keeps me awake at night at the moment, and that is the thing that the BMA should keep foremost in their minds when deciding whether or not, even at this late stage, to take up the offer to postpone strikes until January and take the mandate extension.”
“In fact, the only person who risks having a downside is me if, even after accepting the mandate extension, the deal is rejected and the doctors go out on strike again in January. This is not even a win-win scenario; this is a potential win-lose scenario, so I do not know why the BMA would not take it up. This is a great offer for doctors. I know there will still be more to do, whether that is the implementation of the 10-point plan that Jim Mackey has come up with, my offer to work with the BMA trust by trust and employer by employer to see progress, or any of the other things we can do together. If we work together, we can get more done together. If we are working as partners rather than adversaries, we will all enjoy it a lot more and we will make more progress, and that is the opportunity that is available.”
“I completely agree with my hon. Friend. The BMA has put the offer to its members in neutral terms, but the fact is that it is now going to run a hasty survey over the next few days in order to give us what will still be less than 48 hours’ notice of whether or not these strikes will go ahead. If it took up the mandate extension, it could run a referendum properly and give its members more time to consider and discuss the offer in the workplace and with their families and reps. I do not see how more participation in the conversation and in the ballot could possibly be a bad thing. As I have made clear to resident doctors, there are no downsides for the BMA in this.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It also costs us roughly a quarter of a million pounds each time the BMA does this, and we cannot afford to keep paying that. It may say, “Well, then just do a deal with us and you will not have to fork out,” but then why would the rest of the NHS workforce, or the entire public sector or the entire economy, not go on strike? That is not constructive, and it is not going to get the NHS or Britain out of the enormous hole it was left in by the Conservatives. We are making real progress together, and I thank resident doctors for that. We will make more if we work together.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for what he says and for the experience he brings to bear. I hope his urging is heeded by the BMA. I can give him that assurance. I think its operational leaders will face some fiendish choices in the coming days and weeks if strike action goes ahead. They will have my full backing. Myself, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Care are working closely with both the NHS and the social care sector, but this will be extremely challenging, and that is why I urge the BMA to adopt that “one team, one NHS” approach that he urges them to adopt.”
“With that in mind, and after listening to the contributions we have heard from across the House from Members on both sides who are not anti-doctor or even anti-BMA, I urge the BMA to do the right thing—not just to adopt this deal, but even at this late stage to adopt the offer of mandate extension in order to put off till January the spectre of strike action, and to give their members time to think, vote and make a decision on whether to accept a deal that would make a meaningful material difference to their job prospects, to their careers and to the future of our national health service. It is not too late to change course. It is not too late for the BMA to change its mind, and there is never any shame in doing so for those who think that is right. I thank all hon.”
“Indeed, it avoids the dreaded situation of someone having to call 999 in an emergency uncertain about whether the ambulance is going to arrive on time and anxious about whether they will be waiting in a car park, in a queue, in the back of an ambulance or, indeed, on a trolley in a corridor. It gives me no pleasure at all to acknowledge that the bleak situations I have described are in play today in the NHS. Activity is already being stood down, but even if this strike action were not looming, the NHS is not in a state that I would want myself, the people I love, the people I represent or anyone in our country to be treated in, because of the enormous pressures that it is under.”
“That is the only thing I have been thinking about in recent days, and it is why I have offered to extend a strike mandate for the first time, even though the BMA has asked me to do that on previous occasions in different contexts. I think it is a sensible compromise, and it avoids that dreaded phone call to the NHS staff member who has to cancel their holiday plans for Christmas and go back to work. Most importantly of all, it avoids that dreaded phone call to the patient who has been gearing themselves up for that test or scan that they are worried about, or that operation or procedure that they have waited far too long for.”
“In fact, during the most recent round, we were able to maintain planned elective activity to cut waiting lists at 95%. Yet I must be honest with the House and with the country: if this strike goes ahead, this time will be different. Our hospitals are running hot and the pressures are enormous. That is why I urge the BMA not to go ahead. Not only does it put the progress we are making together in the NHS at risk; it threatens to do so in the worst way and at the worst time possible.”
“I begin by addressing the British Medical Association’s reckless call for resident doctors to strike in the run-up to Christmas. That is a cynical choice, coming as flu cases surge and we enter the most dangerous time of year for hospitals, and it is completely unjustified. After a 28.9% pay rise, the Government offered to create more jobs and put money back in resident doctors’ pockets. The BMA rejected that out of hand. My door has always been open, I have never walked away from the table and I stand ready to do a deal that puts patients first. We will prepare for this round of strike action. I am extremely proud of the hard work and performance of NHS leaders and frontline staff who did so well to minimise costs and disruption during recent rounds of strike action.”
“Regardless of our friends on the centre left, old battles that were won must now be fought all over again, so it falls to Labour not just to cut waiting lists, improve the health of the nation and lift children out of poverty, but to win the argument, as well as hearts and minds. It falls to Labour to persuade people that we can and must help people lead healthier, longer lives, free from preventable disease; rebuild our national health service as a public service, free at the point of need; and give every child the best possible start in life, free from the scourge of poverty. Labour has won those fights before, and we will win them again.”
“We could go back as far as the Government of Benjamin Disraeli and find a Conservative Prime Minister committed to public health in a way that Labour and Conservative Prime Ministers have been in my lifetime. We did not always agree on how to get there, but there was at least agreement on the destination. However, as the opposition parties lurch to the right, consensus after consensus is breaking. [ Interruption. ] Admittedly, the Liberal Democrats have moved further to the left since their days in coalition; that is true. Maybe do not lead with your chins on that one, comrades.”
“I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance, and I absolutely endorse what she says about our local hospital, which I know very well. I genuinely thank frontline NHS staff, without whom the performance and improvements we are seeing simply would not be possible. Let me turn to the substance of this debate. There was once a time, not long ago, when this place was bound in consensus on a number of issues addressed by this Budget. We used to be united on the need for a national health service as a publicly funded, public service, free at the point of use. The last Labour Government built a shared conviction that in 21st-century Britain, no child should grow up shackled by the scourge of poverty.”
“As a result, I am now in a position to pay back that debt to society—and to pay it forward to the next generation, too. We should all be proud that this Budget funds the biggest reduction of child poverty of any Budget this century. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor takes that prize from Gordon Brown, who took it from Denis Healey, because lifting children out of poverty is what Labour Governments do. And why is it that every time Labour enters office, there is the moral emergency of child poverty? It is because, since records began, every single Tory Government left child poverty higher than they found it. That is why they must never be allowed back in power.”
“On average, the poorest children start school already behind, get worse exam results, are less likely to make it to university, earn less, are more likely to develop long-term illness, end up paying less tax, and are more likely to need welfare support and the NHS. Investing in our children is a moral mission; morally, we do not believe it is right to punish children for the circumstances of their birth, or the choices of their parents. This is also a down payment on a better future. It is far better and more cost-effective to invest in children now than pay the price for social failure later. I stand here today as the product of the wise investment of the British taxpayer. It was taxpayers’ contributions that clothed me, housed me, fed me and educated me when I was growing up.”
“Conservative Members say that abolishing the two-child limit is not affordable, but the policy is fully funded. It is paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion, and a tax on online gambling. What they really mean is that they would make different choices. They would put the interests of gambling firms over the wellbeing of children. By labelling it as unaffordable, they betray their view that the prosperity of our country has nothing to do with the talent of its people, but we know that by investing in our people, we are investing in a more prosperous future. Growing up in poverty is not an inconvenience; it is a trap.”
“They say that lifting the two-child limit helps only the feckless and irresponsible, so let me tell them about the mum who came to see me at my advice surgery one Friday afternoon with her three children in tow. She had fled domestic violence and had been rehoused on the other side of London in a bed and breakfast. That remarkable woman was hand-washing her girls’ uniforms, doing a three-hour round trip every day to get her kids to school and holding down three separate jobs. Please do not tell me that women like her are feckless or irresponsible, or on the take. She is facing down hardships and challenges that would break many of us. I will tell Conservative Members who is feckless and irresponsible. It is the people who exploited the covid pandemic, ripped off Britain and lined the pockets of the Conservative party.”
“The Conservatives say that the route out of poverty is work, not welfare. I do not disagree that those who can work should work, but six in 10 households impacted by the two-child limit have at least one parent in work, and they are still in poverty because of low wages and a high cost of living. The Conservatives say that it is the responsibility of families, not the state, to ensure that children are well fed. I agree that parents have a responsibility to look after their own children, but life is a bit more complicated than that. It is far too easy for others who have never walked in the shoes of parents like mine to pass judgment on people whose lives they will never understand. The Conservatives sneer about “Benefits Street”. They have never been there. They have not got the first clue what life is like for people living on welfare.”
“He is not normally the shy, retiring type—unless, of course, he is being asked challenging questions, like whether paracetamol is safe, whether he believes in science or whether he racially abused schoolchildren. In fact, it is reported that he told a Jewish contemporary at school that “Hitler was right”. Admittedly, he was at school a lot longer ago than me, but had I grown up in the aftermath of the second world war, I think I would remember if I had supported the losing side. His politics are a disgrace. He cannot stand by his record, and that is why he is not here to defend it, and why he is regularly referred to in his constituency as “Never-here Nigel”. But as we are in a debate on these issues, let me take on the Opposition parties’ arguments, whether they are here or not.”
“The answer from this side is “No, over our dead body.” We will always defend the NHS as a publicly funded public service, free at the point of use, owned by us, and there for all of us. Of course, it is not just the Leader of the Opposition saying these things; the leader of Reform wants to replace the NHS with an insurance-style system. [Hon. Members: “Where are they?”] They are obviously not here to advocate for their policies. They find it increasingly hard to defend them. They want a system that checks your pockets before your pulse, and asks for your credit card before providing your care. Where is the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage)?”
“On public health, remember it was George Osborne who introduced the sugar tax, and Boris Johnson who introduced legislation to ban certain “buy one, get one free” deals and free refills of fizzy drinks, yet today their successors dismiss these policies as nanny state. Their party is more apologetic about their record on public health than it is about Liz Truss’s catastrophic mini-Budget. We are seeing the NHS’s founding principles contested for the first time in generations. The Leader of the Opposition says, “we need to have a serious, cross-party national conversation” about charging for healthcare. Well, if she wants one, she’s got it, and it will be a short conversation.”
“At the stroke of a pen, she would plunge half a million children back into destitution, shame and hunger. Gone are the days when David Cameron attempted to ape Gordon Brown on issues of inequality and poverty; in fact, the 2010 Conservative party manifesto included the word “poverty” 20 times and committed to an anti-poverty strategy. The 2024 Conservative manifesto mentioned the word once, in a chapter on foreign affairs. Was that because, after 14 years of Conservative rule, the stain of child poverty had been removed from our nation? No, of course it was not. The Conservatives plunged 900,000 children into poverty, more than a million children relied on food banks last year, and children are being admitted to hospital for malnutrition in 21st-century Britain—but now, this Conservative party does not even pretend to care.”
“That is a good question, and I give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that my Department is working closely with the Secretary of State for Education and colleagues right across Government to make sure that we get that right. We have growing levels of need for provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities. We can all see in our casework, let alone through debates in the House, the unmet need, and its impact on children’s education, health and life chances. We are committed to modernising and reforming the system so that it meets needs and sets children up to not only survive but thrive. That is the ambition of this Government. On Sunday, the Leader of the Opposition said that she would reinstate the two-child benefit limit.”
“We promised to end the 8 am scramble; we have widened the window that patients have to request appointments and have made booking available online. A lot done and a lot more to do. At this Budget, we announced the next steps on the road to recovery: 250 new neighbourhood health centres with the first ones in Birmingham, Barrow, Truro and Southall, and £300 million more to invest in technology to modernise healthcare. Next year, we will receive recommendations from Baroness Casey on laying the foundations to build a national care service. The NHS does not just face an existential political challenge from the Conservatives and Reform UK; it faces a sustainability challenge.”
“Having left the NHS in the worst crisis in its history, the right now argues that it is unaffordable and should be abandoned. The NHS was broken, but it is not beaten, and Labour is already breathing new life into our health service. Waiting lists are falling for the first time in 15 years. Ambulances are arriving 10 minutes faster in stroke, sepsis and heart attack cases. Patient satisfaction with GPs is up from 60% to 74%, and nearly 200,000 more patients were given a cancer diagnosis or the all-clear on time. With Labour, the NHS is on the road to recovery. That is in no small part because the Chancellor is reversing 14 years of austerity and investing in our NHS. We promised an extra 2 million appointments; we have delivered 5 million. We promised to recruit an extra 1,000 GPs; we have recruited 2,500.”
“We Labour Members take a different view; we recognise, as I have set out, that so many people affected by the two-child cap are in work and in poverty. That is one of the many scandals of the damage that more than a decade of Conservative rule did. The Conservatives broke the link between a hard day’s work and a fair day’s pay. In addition to the measures that we are taking on child poverty to remove the two-child limit, we are also increasing the national minimum wage. We are increasing it even higher for young people. We are doing this because this is the party of work, the party that wants to make work pay, and the party that is genuinely committed to waging war on poverty. Just as we must win the argument for lifting children out of poverty, we must win the argument for the founding principles of our NHS.”
“Let me say two things in response. I am almost certain that my hon. Friends will be delighted that he has intervened in defence of their plight at the hands of the Labour Whips, but he knows as well as I do that the Whip was removed from some of my hon. Friends not because of the substance of the issue they were raising but because we never, ever accept people voting against a King’s or Queen’s Speech. [ Interruption. ] That was the issue. He asked me a fair question, and he has got an honest answer. He should take it on the chin. The hon. Member also asked why many people in our country believe that the two-child cap was right. It is because our Conservative predecessors peddled the myth and the lie that people in receipt of welfare are on the take, and are just looking for handouts, rather than help.”
“Abolishing the two-child limit is not a handout, it is a hand up. Our country cannot prosper while 6 million people languish on waiting lists, 4.5 million children grow up in poverty and 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training. But if we protect people’s health, give them the opportunities to put their talents to use and give them a strong foundation, they will build a good life for themselves and a better Britain for all, and we can fulfil the lost promise that tomorrow will be better than today.”
“I say to the Conservatives: if we are doing such a bad job, why would they not do anything differently? Would they cut the £26 billion this Labour Government are investing in the NHS, and if not, if they oppose this Budget, how would they pay for it? The Conservatives seem to think that the British people are so stupid that they will forget which party wrecked the NHS and led it to the worst crisis in its history. To conclude, this is a Government who are cutting waiting lists, giving children a healthier start in life and lifting 500,000 children out of poverty. In doing so, we are restating the case for universal healthcare that is publicly owned, publicly funded and free at the point of use. We are showing that progress is possible after 14 years of decline, that things can get better.”
“Maybe they were not listening—the country certainly is not. I would have thought, though, that their own side would at least listen to what she said. She says she wants a debate about charging for healthcare. I do not know whether they have heard that or whether they stand by it. Maybe we could just see a simple show of hands—how many of her own side want to see charging for healthcare in the NHS? Not a single hand has gone up. That does not bode well for the future of the Leader of the Opposition, but let’s leave the Conservative party to revel in its irrelevance. In fact, I was probably one of the few people who paid any attention to what the shadow Health Secretary, the right hon. Member for Daventry (Stuart Andrew), said at the Conservative party conference. I noticed that he did not mention a single policy.”
“] Honestly, from a sedentary position, the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood), who does not want to intervene because I think he knows he is leading with his chin on this, wants to suggest that somehow the Conservative party left a legacy that they could be proud of. They inherited the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history. They left us the longest waiting lists and lowest patient satisfaction on record. No wonder so few of them have turned up to defend that shoddy record. The Conservatives oppose our public health agenda, do they not? I thought this was an area where we had built consensus, but not under their present leadership. I have already quoted what their leader, the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), has said.”
“In short, we are tackling poverty, because every child deserves a healthy start in life, and prevention is better than cure. The leader of Reform, the hon. Member for Clacton, says we should instead be educating people to make healthier choices—I assume that he will not be leading from the front on that campaign. But we know that Reform and the Conservatives oppose our agenda to improve public health. They oppose our investment in the NHS. They should just be honest and admit that they now oppose the NHS itself. [ Interruption. ] Conservative Members do not like it, but I challenge them to dispute a single claim I just read. Let me repeat the charge sheet for their benefit: they oppose our investment in the NHS. Have they not opposed every budget spending review since Labour came to office? [ Interruption.”
“What kind of start in life are we giving our children, and if we allow it to continue, what kind of future are we leaving to them? Our children will lead shorter, less healthy lives; our NHS will buckle under a tidal wave of chronic conditions; and our economy will suffer because businesses will be denied the potential of the next generation. This Labour Government are tackling the sickness in our society. Whether it is the extension of the soft drinks industry levy, free school meals, a warm home discount that reaches millions more, the generational ban on smoking, Awaab’s law, cutting pollution and cleaning up the air that our children breathe, we are combating the drivers of ill health in children’s lives: poor diets, damp homes, dirty air and a lack of opportunity.”
“We are dealing with enormous undercapitalisation in the NHS, totalling some £37 billion as identified by the noble Lord Darzi. It will take time to address that challenge, but I think my hon. Friend’s constituents know from his assiduous hard work and visible campaigning as a constituency MP that he will ensure that their needs and interests are not forgotten or overlooked by this Government. Of course, as we improve the health of our health service, we also need to address the health of our nation. Children in England face some of the poorest health outcomes in Europe. Obesity in four and five-year-olds is reaching record levels—a health time bomb that leaves them at greater risk from cancer and heart disease later in life.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Of course, we want to ensure that investment is deprivation linked. We want to reverse the damage the Conservatives did when they pursued what I would characterise as the Royal Tunbridge Wells strategy, when our former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), declared with pride to Conservative party activists that he had taken funding from the poorest communities in the country and funnelled it to the richest. There could be no shorter or clearer exposition of Conservative party values and politics in action than that claim. To my hon. Friend’s point, he is absolutely right that within many affluent communities there are also pockets of deprivation, and we have to ensure that the NHS is there for everyone in every part of the country.”
“I am grateful to the shadow Health Secretary for giving way. We should be clear that the deal struck with the United States is the first and only deal with the United States that secures 0% tariffs and mitigations against most-favoured-nation pricing. It will ensure that patients get access to good drugs. For the avoidance of doubt, although some costs are unpredictable because of the complexity of medicine pricing, of course we will not cut NHS budgets to fund the pharma deal.”