Health bosses reportedly concerned about government’s focus while council leaders are said to believe building targets are unrealisticGood morning. Keir Starmer is giving a speech on Thursday and you can tell it is important because No 10 started briefing on what it is going to say in a news release to journalists sent out last Friday. He is going to announce a “plan for change” that will include “measurable milestones”. In the advance briefing Keir Starmer said it would be “the most ambitious yet honest programme for government in a generation”.But hang on – hasn’t Starmer announced plenty of “measurable milestones” already? In 2023 he announced five missions, which he said were not just conventional performance targets but part of an attempt to make government more strategic and focused on the long term. The five headline missions all included sub-missions, so arguably there were around 26 targets or pledges in the document. Then, as the election approached, Labour simplified matter by announcing six first steps for change.Health bosses accept the need to focus on the government’s political priority but say ministers will need to accept trade-offs to achieve it. “If the priority is putting all the money into electives, what we will see is warzone A&E departments and all sorts of other things being sidelined,” said an NHS source. “It will have a number of casualties, including mental health, community care and waits in A&E.”Local councils have told the government its flagship plan to build 1.5m new homes in England over the next five years is “unrealistic” and “impossible to achieve”, the BBC can reveal.The vast majority of councils expressed concern about the plan in a consultation exercise carried out by Angela Rayner’s housing department earlier this year.Labour-run Broxtowe council in Nottinghamshire described the proposed changes as “very challenging, if not impossible to achieve”.South Tyneside, another Labour-run council, said the plans were “wholly unrealistic”, while the independent-run council in Central Bedfordshire, said the area would be left “absolutely swamped with growth that the infrastructure just can not support”. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/dec/02/uk-politics-live-keir-starmer-nhs-waiting-lists-housebuilding
Author : Andrew Sparrow
Publish date : 2024-12-02 09:46:17
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UK politics live: Labour under pressure over housing and waiting list targets
