NHS will not be turned around in one budget, says Wes Streeting – UK politics live

In the House of Commons, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has just had a little dig at her predecessor Jeremy Hunt.

In response to one question, she said that “unlike the benches opposite” she had respect for the country’s economic institutions, including, she said, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

She also just raised a lot of laughs by accidentally referring to the budget being “yesterday” rather than tomorrow. The speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, admonished her yesterday for revealing budget details in advance.

Labour’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, has just issued a video in support of tomorrow’s budget, saying it will bring an end to “the era of austerity” and is “the budget Scotland needs”.

Echoing comments he made yesterday, Sarwar says in the video:

After fourteen years of tory failure, division and decline, Labour is turning the page, fixing the foundations, and rebuilding our country.

This first Labour budget will deliver on the promises made in the election, will deliver the first steps promised in our manifesto, will end the era of austerity here in Scotland and across the UK, will provide vital new investment for our public services, and prioritise economic growth.

This is the budget Scotland needs.

Ipsos has published some polling it conducted between 11-14 October looking at attitudes to the NHS, and found that 65% agree with the premise set out by health secretary Wes Streeting among others that “the NHS is broken”.

Among Labour voters the feeling is stronger, with 73% agreeing with that assessment, and it is even more pronounced among people who voted Reform UK, with 77% agreeing with the sentiment.

Only 29% of people had confidence that Labour would be able to “fix” the problem, with optimism most pronounced among the 18-34 age group.

Conservative MPs are expected later today to hand in a petition calling on the Labour government to rethink its plan on means-testing the winter fuel payment, and instead making it universal, regardless of how much money a pensioner has.

PA Media reports shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said they had gathered “over a quarter of a million signatures.”

He told them “This government chose to give well above inflationary pay rises to trade union paymasters when it came to wage settlements, and chose to take this money away from some of the most vulnerable people in the country. We don’t believe that’s right.”

Labour received significantly lower donations from trade unions during the 2024 election campaign than it did in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Rachel Reeves will have more than one petition to look at ahead of her first budget speech tomorrow. Yesterday Leeds East MP Richard Burgon, who currently has the Labour whip suspended, presented a 50,000-strong petition calling for wealth taxes in the budget.

Burgon said:

The Tories have left behind a toxic mess of weak public finances, falling living standards and public services on their knees. The budget cuts and austerity measures that helped cause this situation cannot be part of the solution. Instead, the wealthiest in our society should be the ones to pay to fix the damage caused by the Tories and fund the investment our public services so desperately need.

Mel Stride, currently the shadow work and pensions secretary, told Sky News earlier today that the Conservative party had always “been on the side of lower paid people” but that he was concerned that reports of a rise in the minimum wage would put “pressure” on business.

Last night Tom Ambrose and Jessica Elgot reported that the Guardian understands that the national minimum wage is to increase by up to 6% next year, with more than one million low-paid workers in line for a pay rise.

Stride told Sky News it was the Tories who bought in the “National Living Wage”. That isn’t strictly true, as in his 2015 budget George Osborne simply rebranded what had been introduced under Tony Blair’s government by the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.

Stride told viewers:

We’ve always, particularly through tax cuts, been on the side of lower paid people. But I think what you can’t overlook is the pressure that some of this is going to be putting on businesses.

He claimed increases in the minimum wage were liable to make it “much more difficult for companies now to expand and recruit people and pay better wages,” and said “this is a government that does not understand business or growth.”

Incidentally, if you have lost track of the timings, it is Saturday 2 November when the Conservatives will announce whether Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will become the next leader of the opposition.

Both of their social media campaign teams have been quite busy today so far.

Times Radio have just published on their YouTube channel a 20 minute clip of Conservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch being interview by Kate McCann. In it Badenoch – never shy of jumping into a culture war topic – claims “relentless outrage” has made it difficult for politicians to speak their minds.

Wes Streeting was very active on the media round this morning, and was asked a wide range of questions by different broadcasters. On ITV’s Good Morning Britain he was asked about the forthcoming vote on assisted dying in parliament, and said he had not intended to “wade into the debate” with his earlier comments. Last week he told Labour MPs he was against the proposed change in law.

Speaking this morning, PA Media quotes Streeting saying:

The government is neutral. Ministers are able to vote however we want. We’re subjected to a free vote.

I hadn’t actually intended to wade into the debate last week. I was asked the question at a private meeting of the parliamentary Labour party by a colleague, and I gave an honest answer.

I’ve come down this time on voting against the bill on the basis that I worry about palliative care, end-of-life care not being good enough to give people a real choice.

I worry about the risk of people being coerced into taking this route towards the end of their life.

And I also worry, even where you’ve got really loving families who are very supportive, I really worry about those people who think they’ve almost got a duty to die to relieve the burden on their loved ones, and I’ve had to weigh those issues up against the very powerful arguments on the other side of the argument as well.

I have huge admiration for my colleague, Kim Leadbeater, who’s bringing the bill forward, and ultimately it will be for parliament to decide. As a government we will implement whatever parliament decides.

The gender pay gap for UK workers reduced slightly over the past year, according to new data.

PA Media reports the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded a gap of 7% between male and female earners in April 2024.

Median pay for full-time employees has risen, according to the latest figures.

Wes Streeting has defended NHS diversity, equality, and inclusion policies and programmes that impact on healthcare outcomes.

Speaking on GB News, the health secretary said:

On equality, diversity, and inclusion – for me, this comes down to what these people are actually doing, because, for example, black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.

Black men are twice as likely to die of prostate cancer than white men. Women, the majority of our country, are waiting, sometimes years for an endometriosis diagnosis, which is really common.

When it comes to tackling those health inequalities, many of which can be life and death, that’s where I want the focus to be.

However, Streeting did criticise what he called “total nonsense and a distraction” in some areas, citing somebody, he said, “lauding themselves as a practitioner in anti-whiteness.”

“I’ve got no truck for that kind of American import,” Streeting said.

Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has this morning attacked diversity in the NHS, posting to social media to say “I couldn’t care less if the NHS workforce is ‘diverse’ or not. I care if it’s competent, and whether it delivers for patients.”

Streeting said “I don’t want the gap in our country in terms of your health and wellbeing to be wider, based on whether you’re rich or poor, whether you’re black or white, whether you’re a man or a woman. Those are the health inequalities I want to focus on.”

Chris Osuh

As the Conservative leadership contest finally draws towards a close – if it feels like it has been going on forever remember the 1922 Committee met to decide the schedule for it way back on 22 July – Kemi Badenoch this morning is touting her endorsement from old hands Damian Green and David Davis.

In a joint article published last night by the Telegraph, echoing Badenoch’s own expression that the contest was existential for the party, the pair wrote:

In 2024 … we have no God-given right to exist or to be heard. To every member yet to vote in this contest we say: this is a historic turning point for our party – do not sit this one out. Use your vote. Things can get worse for us. If we make a mistake now there may not be a Conservative party around to correct it.

In their endorsement they say:

Kemi has the star quality to get cut through. Kemi stands out as straight-talking and authentic, not qualities the public associate with the political class. Her tenacity will undo Keir Starmer across the despatch box. There is no doubt she is Labour’s worst nightmare. The more the public sees her, the more they will realise she offers a clarity of thought and vision that the country is crying out for.

Streeting: Labour not treating being in government like a ‘popularity contest’

NHS will not be fixed in single budget, says Wes Streeting

Jessica Elgot

Labour this morning have put out a pre-budget promotional video which makes a huge play out of the fiscal inheritance they have from the previous Conservative administration.

Using cases studies, the video claims “we have inherited a housing crisis”, “we have inherited a broken NHS” and “we have inherited dangerous streets”, then goes on to say “we have already begun the work of change.”

Keir Starmer’s social media accounts have shared the video with the message “Fixing the NHS. Rebuilding Britain. Protecting working people’s payslips. We are choosing a different path to deliver on our mandate of change.”

Former British colonies owe ‘debt of gratitude’, says Robert Jenrick

Ben Quinn