Starmer said the NHS needed reform as well as more money, but insisted it was ‘always better funded under Labour’
Keir Starmer will give a speech this morning detailing Labour’s “mission” on health. Health is one of five “missions” – overarching strategic objectives – he has set out for a Labor government, but each mission has its own set of targets (sub-missions?), and, as Matthew Weaver and Pippa Crerar report, health will include a reduction in deaths from suicide.
Starmer gave more details on his fitness mindset in a round of interviews this morning. Here are some of the points he made.
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Starmer claimed the NHS was “always better funded under Labour”. An overnight briefing from Labor about his speech suggested he would not promise more money for the NHS than he announced this morning. But when asked about the funding, he told the Today program:
Money is part of the answer and the NHS has always been better funded under Labour.
As far as money is concerned, first, wherever we make a specific commitment we outline in terms today how we pay for that.
I ran our public service for five years, I know that if you put more money at the top you get a better result, so money, of course, is part of the answer, but we also need to change or and change. .
If we go the route of prevention, that is actually not only better for people’s lives and their health, but in the long run it actually costs less.
We don’t want to go down the road of making food more expensive in the middle of a cost of living crisis, so now we’re going to focus on advertising rather than increasing the cost of food, because I think For many families who are already struggling, the idea that food prices will rise again is something they cannot bear in their eyes.
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But he said his “very strong view” was that sugary food, and vaping, should not be advertised to children. He said:
In the talk I will deal with vaping and junk food and sugary foods, which should not be advertised to children in my very strong opinion. It is very bad for their health, very bad for the NHS.
Suella Braverman broke ministerial code says former top civil servant
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is back from Japan, and this morning he is due to meet with Sir Laurie Magnus, his ethics adviser, to discuss whether Magnus should launch an inquiry into claims that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, violated the ministerial code when he asked officials about. arranging a private speed awareness course after he was caught speeding. These courses are meant to be group activities, but Braverman doesn’t want too many strangers to know he’s taking part.
Given the controversy this story has sparked, it would be surprising if Sunak didn’t order an inquiry. Here is the Pippa Crerarthis is an overnight story.
On the BBC’s Westminster Hour last night Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary in the Brexit department, said he thought Braverman had broken the ministerial code. He told the program:
This, on the face of it, I think, is a violation of the ministerial code. Obviously, there are still investigations to be done etc. but the code is very clear. Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or arises between their public duties and their private interests.
Even asking a civil servant how he can go on one of these courses puts them in an impossible position. And for someone, you know, who wakes up in the morning and sees the future prime minister, it’s a real lapse in judgment.
And this morning Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, the union that represents senior civil servants, said he thought Braverman was abusing his position. He told Sky News:
Civil servants are publicly funded. You and I paid for them. They are not there to support a minister’s personal interest. They don’t shop, they don’t take care of their children and they don’t settle their speeding tickets.
Indeed, as breaches of the ministerial code go, this seems on the small end of what can count, and if this story is about an anonymous cabinet member (Mel Stride, Gillian Keegan? ), it is attractive. not much attention.
But Braverman is not an anonymous minister, so this issue is a problem for Sunak. He has already had to resign once for breaching the ministerial code, for sending an official document from his personal email to a fellow MP. He has positioned himself as the de facto leader of a Tory faction pushing for a tougher stance on legal and illegal immigration, to the point where he sometimes gives the impression he wants to be fired. But it also earned him a following, and his allies informed the media that he was the victim of a smear campaign.
This morning Keir Starmer said that if Braverman violated the ministerial code, he should resign. Peter Walker there is a story here.
“The ministerial code is very clear that if you break it, you have to go,” Starmer said.
Actually, Starmer is wrong about that. The code used to operate on that basis, but guidance from No 10 issued last year says that if a minister breaches the code, in certain circumstances a public an apology is the appropriate punishment. It says:
As recommended by Lord Geidt and the Committee on Standards in Public Life last year, it is disproportionate to expect that any breach, however minor, should automatically lead to resignation or dismissal. The penalty that the prime minister may decide to issue in a case for the prime minister will be determined, but may include requiring some form of public apology, corrective action or removal on the ministerial salary for a time. The ministerial code has been updated to reflect this.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10:25 am: Keir Starmer gives a speech on Labour’s health mission.
11:30 am: Downing Street held a briefing in the lobby.
2:30pm: Suella Braverman, the home secretary, asked the Commons.
After 3:30 pm: Rishi Sunak is expected to make a statement in the Commons at the G7 summit.
After 4:30: MPs are debating Labor’s changes to the strikes (minimum level of service) bill.
5pm: James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, gave a speech in Chile.
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