UK politics live: Wes Streeting hints budget cuts will go further than axing winter fuel payment

Speaking at an event for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Wes Streeting responded to “nanny state” concerns over planned reforms to the NHS.

“I have not banned cake in the Department of Health,” he said.

“In fact, I was at NHS England the other day and saw an abundance of sugary treats – I have not reported them to the Chief Medical Officer yet.

“I’m really not interested in being the fun police or telling people how to live their lives, and people certainly won’t have to worry about closing their curtains at night in case I’m peering through the window and looking at what they’re eating, drinking or smoking.”

He added: “I think we are in this appalling situation when we are living longer, but becoming sick sooner – that’s terrible for the quality of life, it’s also terrible for the economy, for the labour market and for the financial sustainability of our health and care services.

“So when it comes to having some cake or going down the pub, everything in moderation.

“And crucially, when it comes to measures we are considering, especially where this involves legislation, I don’t believe in doing things to people, I believe in doing things with people – we want to change the national conversation about our health and our wellbeing and the types of reforms that we might want to see.”

The Health Secretary has vowed to take on the left and the right to reform the health of the nation, warning that the nation’s economic prosperity is at risk without change.

But Wes Streeting insisted that he would make changes “with people” and not “to people” when asked about nanny state concerns, saying he is not the “fun police”.

He said that sticking plasters “won’t cut it” and said the Government was going to make “big changes”.

Speaking at an event for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Mr Streeting said he expects “loud opposition” to reform.

But he warned of a “rising tide of pressure” facing the NHS and highlighted a report of the IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity, which concluded that Britain is the “sick man of Europe” when it comes to health.

Overseas aid spending could fall to its lowest level since 2007 unless the Government takes action at the Budget in October, a coalition of charities has warned.

Leaders of 122 UK charities including ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children have called on the Government to maintain aid spending at its current level and prevent more of the aid budget being diverted to support refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

The group also called for ministers to set out “fair and transparent fiscal tests” for restoring the aid budget to 0.7% of GDP after it was cut to 0.5% in 2021.

Halima Begum, chief executive of Oxfam GB, warned of “devastating and far-reaching” consequences if the Government did not protect the aid budget.

She added: “Failure to do so would undeniably put the UK at risk of further diminished credibility as a dependable agent in addressing urgent global crises.”

My colleagues Millie Cooke and Archie Mitchell report:

Train drivers have voted overwhelmingly to accept a multiyear pay offer, ending a two-year dispute at 16 rail companies.

Aslef said its members voted by 96% in favour of a deal the union said was worth 15% over three years. The turnout was 84%.

The offer was made by the new Labour Government within weeks of the party winning the general election.

The ballot result ends what Aslef called the longest train drivers’ strike in recent history, during which drivers took 18 days of strike action.

Aslef had accused the previous Conservative government of “sitting on its hands” and refusing to negotiate.

Secondary school pupils and students who started university during the Covid-19 pandemic have been “consigned to the scrapheap”, the employment minister has warned.

Alison McGovern vowed to set up a youth guarantee, a Labour general election manifesto pledge which she claimed would “transform the lives of young people”, speaking at the launch of a think tank report on employment support.

According to the Department for Work and Pensions, the number of young people out of work due to long-term sickness is up 29% since the pandemic, to around 237,000 from approximately 184,000 before the pandemic.

“The lockdown generation has been failed, consigned to the scrapheap, because they have been denied the support and opportunities to find work, get into work, and get on at work,” Ms McGovern said.