Streeting claims ministers not stopping health strikes because they expect ‘patients to suffer this winter’ anyway
MPs are currently debating a Labour motion on the NHS workforce. Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, opened for the opposition and he said the NHS was facing “the worst crisis in its history”. He said:
Seven million people are waiting for NHS treatment and they are waiting longer than ever before. 400,000 patients have been waiting more than a year.
Heart attack and stroke patients are waiting an hour for an ambulance on average when every minute matters. 24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is the grim reality facing patients in an emergency.
Behind those statistics, people are being held back from living their lives, people forced to give up work because they can’t stand the pain.
Young people still bearing the scars of lockdown unable to get the mental health support they need to step into adulthood. Families losing loves for no other reason than the NHS was unable to treat them in time.
It [NHS] has now fallen over. For the first time in the history of the NHS, people no longer feel certain when they phone 999 or arrive in A&E that they will be seen in time. It’s the first time in our country’s history that people have not felt confident that emergency medicine will be there for them when they need it.
The government … sent the NHS into the pandemic with 100,000 staff shortages. They spent a decade disarming the NHS before sending it into the biggest fight it’s ever faced.
Streeting also claimed that the government was allowing the NHS strikes to go ahead this winter, instead of negotiating a settlement, because that would provide an excuse for wider failures with the service. He told the Commons
Why on earth are they not sitting round the table and conducting serious negotiations?
I will tell you why – they know that patients are going to suffer this winter, they don’t have a plan to fix it, so instead of acting to improve care for patients and accept responsibility, they want to use nurses as a scapegoat in the hope that they avoid the blame.
We can see it coming a mile off. It is a disgusting plan. It is dangerous. And it won’t work. And if I’m wrong, perhaps members opposite could explain why the government is not trying to prevent the strikes from going ahead.
In response, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said Wales, where Labour is in government, showed why the party could not be trusted on health. He said:
[Streeting] said they have a plan in government. Well let’s look at that plan. More than a fifth of the entire population of Wales are waiting for planned care. Sixty thousand in Wales are waiting over two years. So we can see exactly what their plan in government delivers.
Updated at 09.53 EST
Key events
Filters BETA
Key events (13)Rishi Sunak (4)Steve Barclay (3)Angela Rayner (3)
Patrick WintourThe UK urgently needs to do more to help over 28 million people in drought stricken Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, two former secretaries of state for international development and the heads of 14 of the UK’s leading aid agencies have warned in a joint letter to Rishi Sunak.
They say one person is dying every 36 seconds yet British aid to the region is only one fifth of what Britain provided when the region was struck by a major famine in 2017
More than 7 million children are acutely malnourished across the 3 countries.
The letter signed by former Labour international development secretaries Hilary Benn and Clare Short warns:
East Africa is facing a catastrophic hunger crisis caused by one of the worst droughts in living memory. It is looking increasingly likely that a fifth consecutive rainy season has failed in the region, leaving millions of families in a desperate situation and facing starvation …
Although a full-scale famine is yet to be officially declared, what we are seeing on the ground is a famine in all but name. Despite the rapidly mounting death toll, the international response is woefully underfunded and the UK has failed to do its bit.
The letter was released ahead of the development minister Andrew Mitchell giving evidence this afternoon to the international development committee on the impact of massive UK aid cuts, and the amounts being spent on housing Ukrainian refugees in the UK.
Despite an announcement by Mitchell of extra humanitarian aid to Somalia on a visit last Friday, the UK has confirmed an allocation of just £156m this year across east Africa, less than a fifth (18%) of the £861m provided in 2017-8 during the region’s last major hunger crisis which helped to avert a widespread famine.
On a visit to western Somalia last week, Mitchell announced an extra £14m in humanitarian aid to Somalia. During his two day visit Mitchell told the BBC it was “unacceptable” that the world was “neglecting people who are dying in the Horn of Africa” because so much aid money had been diverted to Ukraine.
The UK has given Somalia £62m this year, considerably less than the £101m provided in 2021 and the £232m it gave in 2020. Food inflation in Somalia is currently 15%.
The letter calls for the UK to step up and show leadership in this area again before it’s too late.
Sam Bright from Byline Times has more on Lady Mone’s attendance at the House of Lords.
It’s ironic that Michelle Mone is taking a ‘leave of absence’ from the Lords, considering that she appears to have attended only nine times in the last 12 months of available data.
— Sam Bright (@WritesBright) December 6, 2022
Streeting claims ministers not stopping health strikes because they expect ‘patients to suffer this winter’ anyway
MPs are currently debating a Labour motion on the NHS workforce. Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, opened for the opposition and he said the NHS was facing “the worst crisis in its history”. He said:
Seven million people are waiting for NHS treatment and they are waiting longer than ever before. 400,000 patients have been waiting more than a year.
Heart attack and stroke patients are waiting an hour for an ambulance on average when every minute matters. 24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is the grim reality facing patients in an emergency.
Behind those statistics, people are being held back from living their lives, people forced to give up work because they can’t stand the pain.
Young people still bearing the scars of lockdown unable to get the mental health support they need to step into adulthood. Families losing loves for no other reason than the NHS was unable to treat them in time.
It [NHS] has now fallen over. For the first time in the history of the NHS, people no longer feel certain when they phone 999 or arrive in A&E that they will be seen in time. It’s the first time in our country’s history that people have not felt confident that emergency medicine will be there for them when they need it.
The government … sent the NHS into the pandemic with 100,000 staff shortages. They spent a decade disarming the NHS before sending it into the biggest fight it’s ever faced.
Streeting also claimed that the government was allowing the NHS strikes to go ahead this winter, instead of negotiating a settlement, because that would provide an excuse for wider failures with the service. He told the Commons
Why on earth are they not sitting round the table and conducting serious negotiations?
I will tell you why – they know that patients are going to suffer this winter, they don’t have a plan to fix it, so instead of acting to improve care for patients and accept responsibility, they want to use nurses as a scapegoat in the hope that they avoid the blame.
We can see it coming a mile off. It is a disgusting plan. It is dangerous. And it won’t work. And if I’m wrong, perhaps members opposite could explain why the government is not trying to prevent the strikes from going ahead.
In response, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said Wales, where Labour is in government, showed why the party could not be trusted on health. He said:
[Streeting] said they have a plan in government. Well let’s look at that plan. More than a fifth of the entire population of Wales are waiting for planned care. Sixty thousand in Wales are waiting over two years. So we can see exactly what their plan in government delivers.
Updated at 09.53 EST
The SNP has joined Labour in saying the Conservatives should have removed the whip from Lady Mone in the House of Lords (see 12.42pm), instead of waiting for her to take leave of absence. Brendan O’Hara, the SNP’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, said:
The reality is that Baroness Mone should have had the whip removed from her a long time ago while a thorough investigation into her business dealings was carried out.
Instead, the Tories have turned a blind eye while presiding over an anything-goes culture that has seen vast sums of money given to friends, family and party donors.
The exact circumstances surrounding Baroness Mone’s case are now the subject of a National Crime Agency investigation, which must be allowed to proceed without hindrance – but it is clearly for her to answer exactly how much money she and her family have made from these contracts, in what circumstances and what tax arrangements were made.
But the bottom line in this whole affair is that the stench of sleaze surrounding this broken Tory government has become simply unbearable.
Updated at 09.38 EST
Five ambulance trusts in England to strike: London, Yorkshire, north-west, north-east and south-west
The Unison union says its members are going to go on strike at five ambulance trusts in England on Wednesday 21 December. The Unison staff will take action in London, Yorkshire, the north-west, the north-east and the south-west, and the strike will last from midday to midnight.
Ambulance staff who belong to Unite and the GMB are also on strike the same day.
Unison members working as nurses, porters, healthcare assistants, cleaners at two Liverpool hospitals – the Liverpool Heart and Chest hospital and Liverpool university hospital – will also hold a 24-hour strike starting at 7.30am on Wednesday 21 December.
Unison also says it is reballoting 13,000 NHS staff from 10 trusts and ambulance services – including the five ambulances services in England where Unison staff are not striking on 21 December – because in the original ballot the turnout was just below the 50% threshold required by law.
In a statement, Sara Gorton, Unison’s head of health, said:
Ambulance staff and their health colleagues don’t want to inconvenience anyone. But ministers are refusing to do the one thing that could prevent disruption – that’s start genuine talks about pay.
Wages are too low to stop health workers quitting the NHS. As more and more hand in their notice, there are fewer staff left to care for patients. The public knows that’s the reason behind lengthy waits at A&E, growing ambulance delays, postponed operations and cancelled clinics.
Threatened NHS strikes in Scotland were called off because ministers there understand higher wages and improved staffing levels go hand in hand. Unfortunately, the penny’s yet to drop for the Westminster government.
Ambulance crews working for five services in England will strike over pay & staffing from 12pm-12am on Weds 21 Dec.
“The government will only have itself to blame if there are strikes in the NHS before Christmas.” – @saragorton_1, UNISON head of health https://t.co/wPI7nDEVPp
— UNISON – UK’s largest union (@unisontheunion) December 6, 2022
Updated at 08.55 EST
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, told colleagues at cabinet the government would be stepping up action to deal with fraud, No 10 said.
The PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the No 10 lobby briefing Braverman said “going further on fraud would be an area of focus”. He said:
We know that fraud now makes up a substantial part of overall crime and it’s an area where the Home Office are focused working with police forces.
In the summary of what was said at cabinet, the spokesperson said:
[Braverman] said overall crime was down 10% since 2019, including fraud, with a 20% reduction in neighbourhood crime and a 30% fall in domestic burglary.
She said that the recruitment of more than 15,000 additional police officers meant that many forces now had the largest numbers of officers in their history.
She said going further on fraud would be an area of focus with a recent operation closing down a website responsible for 3.5m fraudulent calls in 2022, leading to 100 arrests.
The prime minister highlighted the powers given to the police to tackle disruptive protests and referenced his recent meeting with police chiefs where he made clear they would continue to have the powers and resources necessary to take decisive action.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has issued this statement in response to the reports that Lady Mone is taking leave of absence from the Lords and that the Tories will not vote against Labour’s PPE motion. (See 11.31am and 11.41am.)
The Tories are all out of excuses.
Ministers must now set out clear timelines on when, where, and how this information will be released. They can’t keep taking the public for fools by refusing to come clean on what they knew about this dodgy deal.
Rishi Sunak was too weak to remove the whip, and has left it to Baroness Mone to finally read the writing on the wall.
No 10 says it’s still committed to legislating for minimum rail services to continue during strikes – but won’t say when
According to Downing Street, ministers did not discuss the Christmas strikes at this morning’s cabinet. Instead the main discussion was on crime, with Suella Braverman, the home secretary, telling colleagues overall crime was down by 10% since 2019.
On strikes, the PM’s spokesperson told journalists the government was still committed to bringing in minimum service levels for trains – which would lessen the impact of future industrial action by the rail unions. He said:
We recognise no legislation will be in place to mitigate against the disruption we’re expecting to see next week. We are pushing ahead with minimum service level legislation. That’s the plan whether or not the unions step back from the planned disruption next week.
But the spokesperson would not say when the legislation, which has been promised since 2019, might be introduced. He said it had been held up by the pandemic, and he went on: “It’s something we’re proceeding with as fast as parliamentary time allows.”
Updated at 08.36 EST
And the GMB has said that more than 10,000 of its members who are ambulance workers will go on strike on Wednesday 21 December. The strike will affect nine trusts: South West ambulance service; South East Coast ambulance service; North West ambulance service; South Central ambulance service; North East ambulance service; East Midlands ambulance service; West Midlands ambulance service; Welsh ambulance service; and Yorkshire ambulance service.
There will also be a strike by GMB members who are paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers on Wednesday 28 December.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said:
After 12 years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, NHS staff have had enough. The last thing they want to do is take strike action but the Government has left them with no choice.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay needs to listen and engage with us about pay. If he can’t talk to us about this most basic workforce issue, what on earth is he health secretary for?
Unite leader Sharon Graham says ambulance workers going on strike ‘to save our NHS from government’
The Unite union has given more detail of the NHS strike by its members. It said more than 1,600 workers for ambulance trusts in the West Midlands, the north-west and the north-east will go on strike on Wednesday 21 December.
But it said essential emergency cover would continue while the stoppage was on.
In a statement Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said:
Make no mistake, we are now in the fight of our lives for the very NHS itself. These strikes are a stark warning – our members are taking a stand to save our NHS from this government.
Patients’ lives are already at risk but this government is sitting on the sidelines, dodging its responsibility to sort out the crisis that it has created.
Ministers can’t keep hiding behind the pay review body. They know full well it does not address the desperate need to get huge numbers of NHS workers off the breadline.
Fail to act now to avert these strikes and the blame will rest firmly at the government’s door.
Unite said it was still balloting 10,000 more NHS workers from 38 different employers about strike action, and that in January the strike ballot would be extended to even more NHS staff.
Ambulance workers and other NHS staff to strike on 21 December, GMB, Unison and Unite unions announce
Thousands of ambulance workers and other NHS staff are to strike on 21 December in a dispute over pay, the GMB, Unison and Unite unions announced.
Updated at 07.10 EST
Mone taking leave of absence from Lords ‘to clear her name’, spokesperson says
A spokesperson for the Tory peer Lady Mone said:
With immediate effect, Baroness Mone will be taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her.
As PA Media reports, the leave of absence means Lady Mone will not attend sittings of the house, vote on any proceedings and will not be able to claim any allowance.
According to Hansard, Mone has only spoken in the Lords on five occasions since getting her peerage in 2015. She last voted in April.
Updated at 08.35 EST
Lady Mone to take leave of absence from Lords
Lady Mone, the Tory peer linked to the PPE Medpro, the firm that won the controversial PPE contracts which are the subject of Labour’s opposition day motion this afternoon (see 11.31am), is taking leave of absence from the Lords, PA Media reports.
#Breaking Tory peer Baroness Mone, who is at the centre of controversy over her alleged links to a firm awarded a PPE contract, will take a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect, the PA news agency understands pic.twitter.com/rekrOZiGDO
— PA Media (@PA) December 6, 2022
In practice, this will have little effect. Mone has not been a regular contributor to the Lords since getting her peerage in 2015.
MPs likely to pass motion forcing release of PPE contract paperwork after Tories reportedly not ordered to vote against
Tory MPs are not being told to vote against Labour’s “humble address” motion that would force the government to release papers relating to the award of PPE contracts to PPE Medpro, the firm reportedly linked to the Tory peer Lady Mone, the Times’ Steven Swinford reports.
BREAKING:
Tory MPs have been told that the government *will not* try to vote down Labour’s humble address on PPE contracts linked to Michelle Mone
Means that the motion – which is trying to force the publication of texts and emails – will pass unopposed
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) December 6, 2022
That means the motion will be passed, almost certainly unopposed, at 7pm.
And because it is a humble address motion, it will be binding on the government (unlike other opposition day motions, which the government sometimes ignores if they get passed).
At least, in theory the motion is binding. Labour got the Commons to pass a humble address motion earlier this year demanding the release of papers relating to the award of a peerge to Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a former KGB officer. But on that occasion the government only released a tiny amount of routine paperwork, which did not reveal anything new about the decision making process that led to Lebedev becoming a lord. Ministers held back other information, citing security concerns.
Updated at 06.42 EST
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihwFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vcG9saXRpY3MvbGl2ZS8yMDIyL2RlYy8wNi9ybXQtbWljay1seW5jaC1jaHJpc3RtYXMtcmFpbC1zdHJpa2VzLXJpc2hpLXN1bmFrLWtlaXItc3Rhcm1lci11ay1wb2xpdGljcy1sYXRlc3TSAQA?oc=5
