Starmer outlines six-day a week neighbourhood health hub plan after backing Reeves
Date: 07:19 BST
Title: Reeves doing excellent job, PM tells BBC after Commons tears
Content: The prime minister has backed Rachel Reeves to stay on as chancellor for "many years to come" after she was seen crying during PMQs.
In the Commons, Starmer didn't say whether Reeves would still be in her job at the next election.
But later, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Starmer said he worked "in lockstep" with Reeves and that she was "doing an excellent job as chancellor".
He also insisted her tearful appearance had "nothing to do with politics".
You can watch a clip of the conversation below.
This video can not be played
Reeves will be chancellor 'for a very long time to come', says Starmer
Update:
Date: 07:06 BST
Title: 'Deeply upsetting' to see chancellor in tears - shadow minister
Content: The NHS reform plan set to be announced today comes after yesterday's PMQs, where Chancellor Rachel Reeves was seen in tears.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride tells BBC Breakfast he sent Reeves a message yesterday 'just to say I hope that she was all right'.
'I felt for her,' he says.
He adds it was 'deeply upsetting to see', especially as it was 'such a public moment'.
'We are all human beings at the end of the day - politicians are human beings - they do have feelings,' he says.
But on the business side, he says the welfare U-turn shows the government 'is not gripping things', and adds the bond markets 'are quite twitchy'.
Update:
Date: 06:53 BST
Title: 'It's reform or die' for the NHS, says Starmer
Content: Keir Starmer during a visit to the Elective Orthopaedic Centre at Epsom Hospital in January
In comments released overnight, Keir Starmer says the health system the government has inherited is "in crisis".
"That ends now," he says. "Because it's reform or die.
"Our 10 Year Health Plan will fundamentally rewire and future-proof our NHS so that it puts care on people's doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place."
This means, Starmer says, giving everyone access to GPs, nurses and wider support all under one roof in their neighbourhood, and "rebalancing our health system so that it fits around patients' lives, not the other way round".
He says it's not an overnight fix, but the government is already "turning the tide on years of decline", with four million extra NHS appointments, 1,900 more GPs and waiting lists at their lowest level for two years.
"But there's more to come. This government is giving patients easier, quicker and more convenient care, wherever they live."
Update:
Date: 06:45 BST
Title: What will the 'Neighbourhood Health Service' look like?
Content: Keir Starmer says today's plan will "fundamentally rewire" the NHS in England, with a focus on three areas: moving from treatment to prevention, analogue to digital, and hospital to more community care.
What does that mean in practice?
Update:
Date: 06:43 BST
Title: Starmer sets out 10-year NHS plan amid 'tough' few days for Labour
Content: This video can not be played
Watch: Starmer says past few days have 'been tough'
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is today setting out a 10-year plan for the NHS in England, aiming to move the health service towards prevention
and community care, as well as digitalising it.
The prime minister says his NHS plan will "fundamentally rewire" the
service, with the aim that by 2035 most outpatient care - including eye care,
cardiology and mental health - will happen outside hospitals.
But while the government is selling the "Neighbourhood Health Service" as a major overhaul,
others are asking how soon people will see a difference - and exactly how, and if, it will work.
Today's announcement follows Starmer giving his "full backing" to Chancellor Rachel Reeves after her tearful appearance in the Commons yesterday.
The last few days have been "tough" for Starmer's government, the PM said, after a major climbdown over welfare changes left a hole in Labour's spending plans.
Speaking to Nick Robinson, Starmer admitted he "did not engage" properly with Labour MPs on the issue, and praised Reeves for "doing an excellent job as chancellor".
We'll bring you all the latest updates, analysis and reaction to all of the above throughout the day.
This video can not be played
Reeves appears tearful during PMQs
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
World's biggest climate fund ramps up investment plans
LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - The world's biggest multilateral climate fund said it will make its largest ever series of investments and speed up dealmaking as it looks to help poorer nations respond to global warming. The Green Climate Fund's plan to release about $1.2 billion for 17 projects mostly in Asia and Africa follows approval by shareholders including the United States at a meeting this week, against a fractious political backdrop that has seen development aid slashed. Official development assistance could fall 17% this year after a 9% drop in 2024, the OECD said in a June report, opens new tab, led by hefty cuts to U.S. aid by President Donald Trump. "At a time when collective climate action is more needed than ever, GCF is stepping up to deliver on its mandate," GCF Co-Chair Seyni Nafo said in a statement. The GCF disbursement includes $227 million for an initiative to expand green bond markets in 10 countries. Green bond markets are where companies raise capital for projects that limit climate change or otherwise benefit the environment. In South Asia, it will invest $200 million in the India Green Finance Facility to scale renewables and energy efficiency, while in East Africa it will invest $150 million in the food system to support nearly 18 million people. All the projects will bring the GCF investment portfolio to $18 billion across 133 countries. So far, countries have pledged $29.9 billion to the GCF and paid in $21 billion. As well as releasing more money, the GCF board also approved plans to speed up its work with partner organisations, which can include accredited entities like other multilateral lenders and so-called Direct Access Entities in developing countries. From an average 30 months to accredit a DAE, the aim is to shorten the time to nine months or less by overhauling its procedures, including carrying out much of the due diligence at the project stage.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Migrant policies ‘creating more barriers to child safety', says charity
Conditions at the UK-France border are becoming 'more dangerous' for young people, a charity has warned, after it was revealed that at least 15 children died trying to cross the Channel last year. Young children hide under tables when they think they hear the sound of sirens because they are commonly scared of the police, according to organisation Project Play, who raised concerns of teargas and evictions. Advocacy coordinator Kate O'Neill, based in northern France, told the PA news agency there has been a rise in police violence which is disproportionately harming children. She said: 'Ultimately the children we're meeting every day are not safe. 'They're exposed to a level of violence, whether it's they are directly victims of it or the witness. 'We're ultimately at all times putting out fires… the underlying issue is these policies of border securitisation… that are creating more and more barriers to child safety and child protection.' She said there was hope when the Labour Government took office a year ago that there would be some improvement, adding: 'This is not at all what we've seen. 'They continued to make conditions more difficult and more dangerous.' She said: 'The smash-the-gangs narrative is not effective and it's harmful because ultimately the only way to put the gangs out of business is to cut the need for them.' It comes as the grassroots organisation published a report that said at least 15 children died trying to cross the English Channel last year, more than the total of the past four years combined. The charity that offers play services, parental support and safeguarding casework to children aged 0-18 living in sites around Calais and Dunkirk, documented rising violence, trauma and child deaths linked with UK border policies and funding to the French to ramp up enforcement in 2024. In February this year, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper agreed to re-purpose £7 million of cash to French counterparts to bolster enforcement action on the nation's coastline to tackle Channel crossings. 'What we really need to see is some cross-border accountability for the incidents and the fatalities in the Channel,' Ms O'Neill said. The campaigner said one of the main calls as a result of the group's research is for an official source of the number of deaths and information on these deaths to be recorded. Figures for the report came from International Organisation for Migration, Calais Migrant Solidarity and other networks in northern France. 'We don't have the identities of all of them. 'In fact, these deaths are going unrecorded and unreported,' she said. One in five crossing the English Channel between 2018 and 2024 were children, according to Project Play. Meanwhile, Ms O'Neill said tactics for French police to intervene in crossing attempts in shallow waters is already happening despite the changes needed to the rules to allow this having not yet come into force. She said: 'This is not a new tactic… it's something that has been happening for a long time in Calais and surrounding areas. 'My feeling is that this is increasing based on the number of testimonies we're receiving from children and their families recently.' 'It's really dangerous because the children often are in the middle of the boats.' But on Friday, Ms Cooper said intervention in French waters was 'critical'. 'That's one of the big things that has changed, the way in which the boats operate in shallow waters,' she said. 'We have to have the action on those because that's that is where the prevention needs to take place.' Ms Cooper also pressed the case for introducing the new criminal offence of endangering life at sea under the Government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, after seeing 'awful cases' of children being crushed to death in the middle of overcrowded boats. Project Play worked with more than 1,000 children in 2024, and believes in the last few weeks there have been a 'very large amount' of children they worked with who were born and went to school in a European country, such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Ms O'Neill said families' visas granted five or 10 years ago in other European countries for refuge have since expired and they have not been allowed to stay, which she said is behind the increase in crossings to the UK. She said since Brexit meant the UK left the Dublin regulation, the country is a 'viable option'. The European Union law set out that the first EU country an asylum seeker entered was responsible for processing their claim, and the UK can no longer send asylum seekers back to other member states since leaving the bloc. Ms O'Neill said: 'Most people we're speaking to, that is why they're going. 'They're not going to claim benefits from the UK or to do anything for free, but it's the next nearest safe place they can be. 'This needs to be addressed… as a European-wide issue instead of just a UK-France thing.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
O'Brien on Liberal ‘soul-searching' amid nuclear and net-zero policy review
After a bruising election loss, the Coalition is at a crossroads. Can it reinvent itself as a credible alternative to Labor, or will internal divisions over nuclear energy, net zero and the Liberal party's identity doom it to another term in opposition? Guardian Australia chief political correspondent, Tom McIlroy, speaks with the deputy opposition leader, Ted O'Brien, about the road ahead – from climate policy to rebuilding trust – and whether the Coalition can rise from the ashes of defeat
