Wes Streeting Insists He Is Happy As Health Secretary – But Adds A Cheeky Afterthought

Posted on 14/11/2025 by Boris Clair

Wes Streeting brushed off suggestions he wanted to oust Keir Starmer as prime minister today when speaking to LBC – but added in a quick quip while he was at it.

It comes after multiple reports citing senior Labour sources claimed this week that the health secretary was thought to be on manoeuvres and looking to oust the prime minister – while No.10 officials insisted Starmer would not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Streeting instantly denied the reports, accusing senior figures of trying to “kneecap” him and claimed there was a “toxic culture” within No.10.

Starmer later apologised to his cabinet minister over the phone, and insisted he has never authorised any attacks on his ministers.

Speaking on an LBC phone-in on Friday morning, the health secretary seemed to suggest everything was well between him and his boss.

He claimed he and Starmer are still in the “same boat” over the leadership row, joking: “The season finale of the Traitors is over.

“I think the prime minister and I are both in the same boat here of being extremely frustrated because this is a total distraction.”

Streeting also said he had confidence in Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who has been criticised amid the row.

When asked if he wanted to be prime minister “one day”, Streeting said: “I’m very happy to be doing the job I’m currently doing.”

LBC presenter Nick Ferrari then pointed to a clip from 2018 when Streeting – then a backbencher – predicted that he would be prime minister within a decade.

He smiled, and replied: “It will be my sense of humour that will ultimately do for me one day.

“But If you don’t back yourself, who will? That’s my advice to the kids in my constituency.”

Streeting also spoke out about the way the union jack has become a source of tension in the UK.

“We normally fly our flag in moments of national celebration,” he said, adding that he was “proud” of it.

“It does get hijacked by racists from time to time and I think our response to that should be to reclaim it,” he continued.

“I think we’ve got a level of racism, overt racism, in this country, a kind we haven’t seen for years.

“I’ve been an elected councillor or MP for the last 15 years. I have not had racism come up in my constituency as often as it has in recent weeks.

“People not just saying, ‘I’m really worried about racism,’ people describing being abused, spat at, shoved, giving racist abuse.

“I think we’ve got a sort of 70s, 80s, style racism which has emerged and we’ve got to put it back in its box.

“The government’s got a role to play, but all of us have got a role to play.”

Wes Streeting Says NHS Is ‘Addicted To Overspending’ As He Confirms Job Cuts

Posted on 16/03/2025 by Boris Clair

Wes Streeting has said the NHS is “addicted to overspending” as he launched an attack on health bosses.

He said those in charge of the healthcare system assume “someone will come along to bail them out” when they blow their budgets.

His comments come as he suggested hundreds more government quangos could be axed following the abolition of NHS England.

Appearing on Sky News this morning, Streeting was asked by presenter Trevor Phillips: “Is it right that Jim Mackey, the head of NHS England, has written to local health boards demanding that they produce plans for a 50% reduction in their spending?”

Confirming the move, Streeting said there would be a “particular focus on management costs” to achieve that target.

He said: “Myself and Jim are confronting a financial planning round for the year ahead where systems returned financial plans to us that would have involved an overspend between £5 and £6 billion before the new financial year has even begun.

“I’m afraid this speaks to the culture that I identified before the general election where the NHS is addicted to overspending, is addicted to running up routine deficits, with the assumption that someone will come along to bail them out, in a way that, by the way, local councils would never be able to do.”

Phillips replied: “Are you saying that the apparatus of the NHS was basically wasting public money?”

Streeting said: “I think there’s definitely examples of waste and duplication and we’re going to go hard at it.

“Even if the public finances weren’t tight – and they are – I don’t think even in the good times it’s acceptable that taxpayers’ money is wasted, because the money you’re wasting could be spent on other public priorities or could be put back in the pockets of taxpayers.”

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\"The NHS is addicted to overspending\"

Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirms some integrated care boards have been asked to find 50% savings to stop \"waste and inefficiency\". pic.twitter.com/cbfQseG35k

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 16, 2025

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“The NHS is addicted to overspending”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirms some integrated care boards have been asked to find 50% savings to stop “waste and inefficiency”. pic.twitter.com/cbfQseG35k

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 16, 2025

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Streeting said he was committed to “slashing bloated bureaucracy”, suggesting many more health quangos could be axed.

“The abolition of NHS England – the world’s largest quango – is the beginning, not the end,” he said.

On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the health secretary admitted the effeiciency drive will see “significant” numbers of NHS workers lose their jobs.

He said: “I’m going after the bureaucracy, not the people who work in it.

“Of course, I can’t sugar coat the fact that there will be a significant number of job losses and we will want to make sure we are treating people fairly, supporting them properly through that process. And I’m not criticising them, but I’ve got to make sure the system is well set up.”

Has Wes Streeting Dealt The Final Blow To The UK’s Assisted Dying Bill?

Posted on 15/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Wes Streeting is a very clever man.

As one of the government’s best communicators, the health secretary knows that when he speaks, people tend to listen.

So when he decided to make an intervention on fellow Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill this week, he knew that it would make waves.

Streeting, who has already said he intends to vote against the bill, told Times Radio: “It would be a big change. There would be resource implications for doing it. And those choices would come at the expense of other choices.”

His message was clear: passing the bill would cost money, and that would have to come at the expense of frontline NHS services.

Leadbeater told HuffPost UK that she found Streeting’s comments “upsetting”, especially since the government’s official position is to remain neutral on the legislation.

“It’s a difficult balance for people,” she said. “I was disappointed that he made those comments before he saw the bill. But everyone is entitled to their view.”

Others are less sanguine about Streeting’s intervention, however.

Labour peer and former minister Baroness Hodge said: “I’m a great Wes Streeting fan but I think on this issue he should do what the Cabinet Secretary said and just hold fire a little bit.”

On his specific suggestion that the bill could see the NHS starved of resources, she said: “If you look at the NHS budget, most of it goes on the last six months of life.

“To argue that this is going to cost extra – I mean I haven’t done the arithmetic on it – sounds to me a bit daft.”

Another Labour grandee, former deputy leader Baroness Harman, told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that Streeting had “crossed the line” by speaking out.

“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.

Wes Streeting's interventions on the assisted dying debate have angered some of his colleagues. — Wes Streeting’s interventions on the assisted dying debate have angered some of his colleagues.

Several MPs HuffPost UK has spoken to admitted privately that Streeting’s intervention could lead to previously-undecided colleagues opting to vote against the bill.

One newly-elected Labour MP said: “Wes’s comments will help a lot of us make up our minds, I think. I was already pretty sceptical about the bill, but what he said has made me much more likely to vote against.”

A senior Tory MP said: “When Wes said there will have to be NHS cuts, that probably killed the bill stone dead.”

But Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon, who is a supporter of the bill, said Streeting’s remarks could actually have the opposite effect.

“A lot of Labour MPs feel let down by Wes,” he said. “They think he’s gone too far and that’s made them more determined to support the bill.”

The debate around the issue has already been lengthy and intense, despite the fact that the bill itself was only published last Monday night.

If passed, it would allow terminally ill adults who have less than six months to die if they wish.

They would have to be over the age of 18, be registered with a GP for at least a year, have the mental capacity to make a clear choice and express a “clear, settled and informed” wish to die without any coercion.

Two independent doctors and a High Court judge would also have to confirm the person is eligible for assisted dying.

“When Wes said there will have to be NHS cuts, that probably killed the bill stone dead”

The all-important Commons vote on the second reading of the bill takes place on November 29.

While no one is expecting a repeat of the last time MPs voted on the issue nine years ago, when Rob Marris’ private member’s bill was resoundingly defeated by 330 to 118, there is a growing feeling that it could be narrowly defeated.

One former Tory cabinet minister said: “There’s an expectation that a lot of the new Labour MPs will vote for it, but I don’t think that’s right.

“A lot of colleagues are also concerned about the lack of parliamentary time being given to it.”

The debate on November 29 is only scheduled to last five hours, which Conservative backbencher Alec Shelbrooke told HuffPost UK was nowhere near enough for an issue of such importance.

The Wetherby and Easingwold MP asked Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday for the government to make available two days of parliamentary time – 16 hours in total – for the bill to be debated. He declined.

Shelbrooke said: “I am open minded but without extra floor debate I would not be able to give this a second reading.”

Kim Leadbeater speaks to the press during a gathering in favour of the proposal to legalise euthanasia in the UK.

But Leadbeater said those with concerns should back the bill at the end of the month, after which there will still be a lengthy parliamentary process for it to be thoroughly debated.

“Once we get it through on November 29 – if we do – we’ve then got committee stage, report stage, third reading and then it goes to the Lords, so that is a six month process,” she said.

“Just because the debate is not happening on the floor of the House doesn’t mean it’s not happening at all.”

She also pointed out that MPs have been able to take part in drop-in events in parliament, where those on both sides of the argument have been setting out their case.

“I’ve had a number of messages from colleagues saying they had gone through the bill and will now be voting for it,” Leadbeater said.

“You’ve got people in the middle who looking at the bill and really doing the research, speaking to constituents, having round tables and speaking to various organisations.

“But I also respect those who say they won’t be voting for it. Whatever happens with the bill, and I desperately hope it passes, I hope it leads to a wider debate on the issue. There are a lot of positives that can come out of it.”

Campaigners near Parliament Square against the proposed bill to legalise assisted dying.

Views on the issue among the public appear to be just as mixed as they are in parliament.

A poll by Savanta found that 46% support assisted dying for non-terminal degenerative diseases, compared to 20% who are opposed.

However, 61% said they were concerned that if the bill passed, terminally ill people might be pressured into taking their lives due to cost or inconvencience.

Emma Levin, associate director at Savanta said: “Our polling suggests there are significant levels of support among the UK public for the legalisation of assisted dying – in the abstract.

“That being said, there continues to be widespread concern that people could be pressured into taking their own life prematurely. Campaigners for the legalisation of assisted dying will need to convince the public of the safeguards put in place to stop this happening.”

The vote in two weeks’ time is set to be one of the most significant of this or any parliament.

It is impossible to predict how it will go, but the pressure is on the bill’s supporters to convince the sceptics that it is an idea whose time has come.

Trevor Phillips Suggests Labour’s Manifesto Included ‘Terms And Conditions’

Posted on 20/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Sky News’ Trevor Phillips called out the government on Sunday morning by saying Labour’s manifesto had “terms and conditions” attached.

With less than two weeks to go until chancellor Rachel Reeves unveils her first Budget, the public are nervously waiting to see how she tries to raise £40bn in spending cuts and tax rises while also trying to avoid austerity measures.

Labour also promised before the election not to increase taxes for “working people”, particularly when it comes to VAT, income tax and National Insurance contributions.

In a clash with health secretary Wes Streeting, presenter Phillips asked how the “working people” label applies to the self-employed.

“Of course self-employed people are working people,” the cabinet minister replied, adding that when he thinks about the term, he means those who are on “low to middle incomes”.

Phillips asked: “Why is it then that in the legislation you’re going to introduce tomorrow on workers’ rights, you don’t redefine to include the self-employed?”

Streeting said that they have a “different working arrangement”.

The presenter asked: “So just in the same way you told us there would be no rise in National Insurance, but suddenly there’s rises in National Insurance for employers, it’s just possible there might be rises in taxes for the self-employed, because they’re not workers?”

The minister replied: “We will keep our manifesto promises, despite the pressures, we will not increase income tax, National Insurance or VAT on working people – that was the commitment we made before the general election.”

Phillips cut in: “Every expert says you’re breaking the pledge.”

Paul Johnson of the think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) already said last week that putting up NI in any way would be a manifesto breach.

The health secretary claimed Labour had been criticised for not being radical enough in their manifesto in the run up to the general election, and that’s because they knew it had to be feasible to deliver on it.

As they spoke over each other, the presenter hit out: “You know what I want to do now? I want to say, I take that answer but terms and conditions apply.”

“What do you mean? Absolutely not,” Streeting said, saying Labour are going to deliver on every pledge they made in their manifesto.

Wes Streeting Claims NHS Will Effectively ‘Go Bust’ If Labour Does Not Act

Posted on 08/09/2024 by Boris Clair

The health secretary Wes Streeting has claimed the NHS will effectively “go bust” unless the government takes action, and soon.

The cabinet minister’s remarks come ahead of a landmark report into the health service from Lord Darzi, a leading surgeon, commissioned by the government in July.

Darzi’s report is expected to say the NHS reduced its “routine healthcare activity by a far greater percentage than other health systems” in many key areas during the Covid pandemic – and that the service is still suffering as a result.

The crossbench peer, who was a minister in the last Labour government but who has since left the party, has also warned the NHS was “seriously weakened” by disastrous government policies over the last decade.

Speaking to LBC’s Sunday with Lewis Goodall, Streeting said: “If we do not act now to make the right long-term decisions, we will end up with the NHS effectively going bust.”

He added that Darzi’s report will show the NHS was “so badly prepared and resourced before the pandemic, we ended up cancelling more operations and appointments and procedures than any other major country”.

While he suggested that investment and reform were needed to “deliver results” within the health service, Streeting added that the NHS was “broken by the botched reforms of the previous government”.

PM Keir Starmer also told the BBC in his first major interview since getting into No.10 that the NHS had been “broken” by past governments.

“Everybody watching this who has used the NHS, or whose relatives have, knows that it’s broken. That is unforgivable, the state of our NHS,” he said.

Starmer added: “Our job now, through Lord Darzi, is properly to understand how that came about and bring about the reforms, starting with the first steps, the 40,000 extra appointments.”

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“[It is] unforgivable, the state of our NHS”

In his first major interview in Number 10 Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the Conservatives “broke\" the NHS ahead of a government review of the servicehttps://t.co/cLzMdI7zUv pic.twitter.com/L7JzRIQgD4

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 7, 2024

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“[It is] unforgivable, the state of our NHS”

In his first major interview in Number 10 Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the Conservatives “broke” the NHS ahead of a government review of the servicehttps://t.co/cLzMdI7zUv pic.twitter.com/L7JzRIQgD4

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 7, 2024

Meanwhile, shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins has denied the Tories had broken the service, instead pointing to Darzi’s findings that more than 100,000 infants were left waiting for more than six hours in A&E departments in 2023.

She told broadcasters: “Labour’s instinct is to politicise children’s health rather than provide solutions and reform our NHS.”

A Tory Party spokesman also defended their record in government, telling the Guardian: “The NHS has more doctors, more nurses, more funding in real terms and is looking after more people than ever before.”

They added that the NHS looked after millions during the pandemic, and rolled out vaccines “faster than anyone else in the world” – and set up the Public Inquiry.

They added: “It is odd that this former Labour minister and peer feels he is in a better position to opine on Covid than the Public Inquiry.”

The health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper, said that “years and years of Conservative failure have brought the NHS to its knees” and called for “an emergency health budget from this new government.”

Health Secretary Cornered By Graph Putting £22bn ‘Black Hole’ In Perspective

Posted on 08/09/2024 by Boris Clair

Health secretary Wes Streeting was presented with a brutal graph putting Labour’s £22bn black hole claim into perspective this morning.

The new government has repeatedly said the Conservatives left behind a huge gap between they thought was coming in and how much is actually being spent.

Labour say this is why it is asking MPs to vote on restricting winter fuel payments in the Commons next week – a move which, if voted through, will leave around 10 million pensioners worse-off.

So a handful of Labour MPs are considering voting against the government – and PM Keir Starmer has refused to say whether or not that could result in their suspension from the party.

With this potential headache looming for the government, presenter Trevor Phillips presented Streeting with a large chart showing just how large the £22bn black hole in comparison to the rest of the government spending – which stands at a whopping £1,226bn.

The Sky News host said: “I mean, seriously, the £22bn black hole – it’s not the biggest thing in the world that you have to face, is it?”

“No, that is not what I said,” Streeting replied.

Phillips cut in: “You’re making £22bn sound like if you don’t fix it, the economy is going to crash.”

The leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, sparked concern after saying only last weekend that the economy was at risk of crashing unless the government fixed that £22bn black hole.

Streeting sarcastically hit back: “Oh, let’s just go on spending more than we’ve got, we’ll go on ratcheting up the debt, the deficit – who cares, right?

“That was basically where the last Conservative government got to.”

But Phillips cut off Streeting’s attempts to slam the Tories, saying: “I’d like to spend at least some of this interview talking about some of your decisions rather than the Conservative past.”

He added that the winter fuel allowance cut was still Labour’s choice, and that the House of Lords scrutiny committee had released a report this week saying the decision to cut back on winter fuel payments did not need to be rushed through.

Streeting said it was a “tough choice” with “political pain” and that he was not “remotely happy” about having to vote for it.

Throughout the interview, he reiterated that Labour are facing a major challenge with the government’s finances because of the mess the Tories left behind, saying: “It was an unprecedented degree of in-year recklessness.”

He added: “Whether it’s pensioners or anyone else in this country, they won’t forgive us if we duck the difficult decisions now and end up leaving the country with a bigger bill and a bigger price of failure for the future. That was the Conservative way and that’s not the approach we’re going to take.”

Why Is The New Government Facing Backlash From Its Own MPs Over Puberty Blockers?

Posted on 15/07/2024 by Boris Clair

Just ten days after being elected, the government is already facing some internal turmoil over its stance on trans rights – specifically, over its restrictions on puberty blockers.

Here’s why Labour MPs are calling out the health department, why it matters, and how health secretary Wes Streeting has responded.

What has happened?

Streeting has decided to extend a ban – first implemented by the Conservatives – on puberty blockers prescribed to children for gender-related issues.

Puberty blockers are used to help children who start puberty very early.

And, for the last 30 years, they have also been used for those under 18 who are unsure of their gender identity and want to delay reaching sexual maturity.

It prevents physical signs of puberty appearing, like facial hair.

But, then-health secretary Victoria Atkins announced using puberty blockers for young people experiencing gender-related problems would be banned in both in the NHS and the private sector.

She announced the news in May, just before the dissolution of parliament – the emergency ban was implemented in England, Wales and Scotland.

That decision is now being legally challenged in the High Court by The Good Law Project and pro-trans group, TransActual.

The campaigners say the ban did not undergo sufficient parliamentary scrutiny before it was passed, and a statutory committee was not consulted.

According to the government’s legal department in the ongoing case, the government “is minded to renew the emergency banning order with a view to converting it to a permanent ban, subject to appropriate consultation.”

Why did the Conservative government – and now its Labour successor – ban the puberty blockers?

Atkins’ decision came after the Cass review – by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass – into the NHS services for trans children and young people was published earlier this year.

The review said the evidence for the long-term safety of using puberty blockers was weak, and called for more research into its use.

Who within the Labour Party has criticised this?

Labour, which has struggled to unite the party over its stance on trans issues in the past, is now facing internal backlash over its decision to extend the controversial Tory ban.

Stella Creasy – a frontbencher under Ed Miliband – said: “Cass review recommended caution, not exclusion, for any treatment and drew attention to shortcomings of previous GIDs service.

“To those asking will always be MP who listens to demand for better research & evidence base for help for those with gender dysphoria, not abandons them.”

Cass review recommended caution, not exclusion, for any treatment and drew attention to shortcomings of previous GIDs service. To those asking will always be MP who listens to demand for better research & evidence base for help for those with gender dysphoria, not abandons them.

— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) July 13, 2024

Backbencher Zarah Sultana lashed out at Streeting on X, saying their party’s manifesto vowed to “remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition & acceptance”.

She added: “That entails ending the Tories’ ban on puberty blockers. Young people – cis & trans – must have access to healthcare they need. I’ll always stand with the trans community.”

Fellow backbencher Nadia Whittome said: “Only a small number of young people are prescribed puberty blockers.

“Those who are often describe them as lifesaving. I know the distress the puberty blockers ban is causing them. No matter what happens in court, I will continue fighting for the government to scrap it.”

Clive Lewis, who ran in the 2020 leadership contest, wrote on X: “I’ve met young people who’ve been prescribed puberty blockers. Some told me they’d helped lift them from depression & probably saved their life. A blanket ban is wrong & not what Cass recommended. Careful, clinical provision is the way forward, not this politicisation.”

I’ve met young people who’ve been prescribed puberty blockers. Some told me they’d helped lift them from depression & probably saved their life.
A blanket ban is wrong & not what Cass recommended. Careful, clinical provision is the way forward, not this politicisation.

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) July 14, 2024

LGBT+ Labour also wrote to Streeting, saying the Cass review also called for a cut in waiting lists for trans youth and long-term staffing issues to be addressed.

It demanded “comprehensive training for NHS staff on how best to support and work sensitively with trans and questioning young people, and better address the current toxicity of public debate which is actively harmful to young people”.

The group called for Streeting to set out a timeline of a clinical trial for the puberty blockers, adding: “We hope that, under this new Labour government, progress can be made to reset the public discussion on trans rights, centring on the humanity of, and compassion for, each individual trans person.”

Campaigners protesting the ban on puberty blockers

How has Streeting responded to criticism?

In a thread on X (formerly Twitter), Streeting acknowledged there’s “lots of fear and anxiety” around the decision he has made, but the “safety of children must come first”.

He argued the Cass review did not find enough evidence about puberty blockers’ long-term impact, adding: “The evidence should have been established before they were ever prescribed.”

The health secretary said the NHS is setting up a clinic trial with National Institute for Health and Care Research so the effects can be “safely monitored” to prove the evidence required.

He said puberty blockers’ use in children who start puberty much too early has been “extensively tested” and met safety requirements – but the same is yet to be said for gender dysphoria.

Streeting explained: “This is because the puberty blockers are suppressing hormone levels that are abnormally high for the age of the child.

“This is different to stopping the normal surge of hormones that occur in puberty. This affects children’s psychological and brain development.”

He added: “I am determined to improve the quality of, and access to, care for trans people.”

Some of the public statements being made are highly irresponsible and could put vulnerable young people at risk.

I know there’s lots of fear and anxiety. I am determined to improve the quality of, and access to, care for trans people.

8/9

— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) July 14, 2024

Wes Streeting Rejects Archbishop Of Canterbury’s Call To Axe Two-Child Benefit Cap

Posted on 19/05/2024 by Boris Clair

Wes Streeting has rejected the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s call for the “cruel” two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.

The shadow health secretary said that although he personally opposed the policy, he could not promise that an incoming Labour government would end it.

The two-child cap was brought in by the Tories as part of their efforts to slash the welfare bill.

It means that families only receive Universal Credit or child tax credit payments for the first two children they have.

Welby told The Observer: “The two-child limit falls short of our values as a society. It denies the truth that all children are of equal and immeasurable worth, and will have an impact on their long-term health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.

“Shamefully, children from ethnic minorities and homes where someone is disabled are most affected.

“Children should grow up in families and households where they can flourish and be supported to find their place in the world. Yet the two-child limit prevents many from accessing the resources they need.

“This cruel policy is neither moral nor necessary. We are a country that can and should provide for those most in need, following the example of Jesus Christ, who served the poorest in society. As a meaningful step towards ending poverty, and recognising the growing concern across the political spectrum, I urge all parties to commit to abolishing the two-child limit.”

Appearing on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, Streeting said he “really welcomed” the Archbishop’s intervention, but could not commit to agreeing to his request.

He said: “One of the consequences of the Conservatives’ disastrous
handling of the economy is the public finances are in a mess and there are harder choices to make.

“So unless and until I can sit on your programme and say we will do X by funding it through Y, that’s not a commitment I’m able to make today.”

Streeting added: “I voted against the two child limit, so by definition, I wish it
wasn’t there. But as we’ve seen across the board, it’s a lot easier to get rid of stuff that is to put stuff back.

“And that’s the frustrating thing about the vandalism we’ve seen through
14 years of conservative government.”

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