DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Labour have to take motion on the NHS
In opposition, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS was ‘broken’ and must be fixed without delay.
Since coming into government, his sense of urgency seems to have diminished.He now says he wants to have a ‘national conversation’ before embarking on a programme of reform – which even then will take ten years to complete.
With waiting lists still stratospherically high, face-to-face GP appointments as rare as unicorns in many areas and hospital A&E departments almost cracking under the strain of high demand, patients and medical staff want action today, not years from now.
Do we really need another conversation? The problems are plain to see. NHS productivity and efficiency must be improved, everyone should be able to access primary care, waiting times must be brought down.
It was easy to sneer at Tory efforts to revive the NHS after the seismic shock of the pandemic. Now he must find solutions himself, Mr Streeting is not so glib.
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Health Secretary Wes Streeting wants a ‘national conversation’ before reforming the NHS, but the problems are plain to see
What he has done so far is hardly convincing. Giving junior doctors a ‘no strings’ pay rise of more than 20 per cent has encouraged other health unions to demand inflationary rises.
And his proposal to give weight-loss drugs and smart watches to the obese sounds suspiciously like gimmickry.
But he and other ministers have made a rod for their own backs. By suggesting that all the voters needed to do to fix Britain was kick out the Tories, they raised expectations that Labour would do a better job. There’s precious little sign of that to date.
Killer in our schools
Clearing asbestos from public buildings is a difficult, dirty and dangerous business. But not clearing it poses a huge and potentially lethal risk.
Asbestos is present in thousands of schools and hospitals built since the 1960s but current advice is that it poses little risk if left undisturbed, so is removed only when damaged and shedding fibres.
A new report suggests this complacency could cost many thousands of lives in coming decades.
Today the Mail calls for a national register of every non-domestic building where asbestos is known to be present and a credible programme drawn up for all to be cleared. Asbestos kills. There is no time to lose.
Asbestos danger sign at building construction site
Tragedy of errors
Having already had Elizabeth I, Raleigh, Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher removed from the Downing Street walls, Sir Keir Starmer has now consigned the portrait of William Shakespeare to some dusty cupboard.
All these figures are giants in our island story. Elizabeth secured Britain’s independence against daunting odds. Raleigh helped us become the world’s pre-eminent naval and imperial power.
Gladstone introduced free elementary education for all. Margaret Thatcher raised the Sick Man of Europe from his bed and rescued a moribund economy.
Sir Keir Starmer has now consigned a portrait of William Shakespeare to a dusty cupboard
Shakespeare, meanwhile, is by common consent the greatest playwright who ever lived and the father of modern English literature.
Surely a newly installed Prime Minister could take inspiration from these national legends. Yet Sir Keir seems unnerved by them.
He may be more comfortable gazing up at a picture of his Arsenal hero Thierry Henry, or pop-idol Taylor Swift. But he is not some wide-eyed fanboy, he’s the Prime Minister of a great nation.
Respecting British history comes with the territory. It sets the context of our present and can help guide our future. As the Bard put it: ‘What’s past is prologue.’
