I would support PM and Labour on NHS reforms, says Robert Jenrick
Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has said he is prepared to support Labour proposals on reforms to the NHS.
He told GB News: “I’m pleased that they are turning their attention to how we get more homes built in this country. We need to build homes. We need more industry and infrastructure.
“Unfortunately, they’re going about it in the wrong way. They’re doing precisely the opposite of what I want to do.
“They’re slashing the housing targets in the big cities, and they’re hiking them in the countryside and in places where there isn’t demand for housing. So the idea is right, but the policies are wrong.
“If I was leader of our party and ultimately Prime Minister, I want to get young people onto the housing ladder with serious but radical changes to our planning system.
“I’ve already said that the NHS needs reform, and if Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer come forward with genuine reforms in the national interest that improve productivity, so that we actually talk about outputs, not just inputs, I would support them.
“Now I’m sceptical, because the revealed preference of this Labour government is to cave in to the vested interest, to the trade unions, but I’ve made that offer to them.
“I think the public want to see their opposition behave in a mature way, where there are good things, support them, where they’re making mistakes, like taking the winter fuel allowance away from 10 million pensioners, vigorously oppose them.”
On winter fuel payments, he said: “The issue here is twofold. One is the fact that Labour never said they were going to do this during the election campaign. So the dishonesty here is hiding this from the public
“The other point is the choice that’s being made here. Keir Starmer is making a political choice to give money to his union paymasters.
“For example, £10,000 a year to train drivers who are already well paid without properly settling the strikes, £8 billion to Ed Miliband for a fantasy energy company doesn’t produce any energy whatsoever, and he’s taking it from 10 million pensioners.
“Of course, there are some people who are on good incomes, but there are also millions of pensioners who are not, and there are pensioners who are on as little as £13,000 a year who this autumn and winter, when energy prices are on the rise, are going to be £600 pounds worse off.
“The difficulty with means testing is always that it is immensely difficult to do that in practice, and often even more expensive to means test than to provide it universally. So it’s harder than you might imagine.
“But the point here is Keir Starmer is making a choice. I think it’s a bad choice, a selfish choice, and it reveals a lot about his personality and his politics, giving money to placate his union paymasters, taking it away from poor pensioners. I think that’s shameful.”
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