But, as Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot report in the Guardian this morning, in reality Downing Street is mulling over the possible need for policy change, and there is talk of revising the winter fuel payment cut.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is doing the morning interview round for No 10 this morning (no surprise there – is he ever not doing it?) and, although he has been given multiple opportunities to knock down this story, he has conspicuously failed to do so.
On BBC Breafast, asked by the presenter John Kay if there might be a change to the winter fuel payments policy in the next few weeks or months, Streeting replied:
Well, at this stage, ahead of a spending review or budget where those sorts of decisions are normally taken, I wouldn’t be close to those sorts of discussions as health secretary.
But I’m not going to insult your viewers, by the way, by pretending that winter fuel didn’t come up on the doorstep. Of course it did, and I know that people aren’t happy about winter fuel allowance in lots of cases.
On the Today programme, asked by Justin Webb if he could rule out the winter fuel payments policy being reconsidered, Streeting said:
There isn’t a formal review or anything like that going on. I do know that.
But, if this was the No 10 rebuttal, Streeting did not try very hard to make anyone think that it means the Guardian story is wrong. Streeting also repeated the point about how, if the policy was being reviewed, he would not have been told about it anyway. And he went on:
We are reflecting on what the voters told us last Thursday at the ballot box, and that is why the prime minister said over the weekend he wants the government to go further and faster at delivering real change.
Asked if he would advise Starmer that the winter fuel policy should change, Streeting said he would give his advice to the PM in private. (He did not say he would tell Starmer to stick with the policy.)
I will post more from Streeting’s interviews, and other reaction to the Guardian story, shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.15am: Eluned Morgan, Welsh first minister, gives a speech criticising the UK government’s proposed cuts to sickness and disability benefits.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs a normal cabinet meeting, followed by a political cabinet.
10am: More in Common releases its analysis of the local election results, which includes new polling that helps to explain the results.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in London.
11.30am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
2.30pm: Sarah Pochin, the new Reform UK MP for Runcorn and Helsby, is expected to take her seat.
2.30pm: Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, and Lord Grade, its chair, give evidence to the Commons culture committee.
2.30pm: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, gives a statement to MSPs about plans to improve access to GPs in Scotland.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
a government announcement about £102m being invested in England to modernise 1,000 GP surgeries. This will allow GPs to deliver 8m more appointments a year, he claimed.
Speaking on the Today programme, Streeting said the government had already reformed the GP contract, increased their pay and hired more doctors. But now it was responding to their requests for more space in practices, he said.
Explaining why the upgrades would lead to more appointments, the Department of Health and Social Care said in its news release:
Right now, many GP surgeries could be seeing more patients, but don’t have enough room or the right facilities to accommodate them. From creating new consultation and treatment rooms to making better use of existing space, these quick fixes will help patients across the country be seen faster …
This is the first national capital fund for primary care estates since 2020 and part of a comprehensive package of GP support, alongside recruiting 1,500 additional GPs and reducing bureaucracy.
Announcements like this normally involve fleshing out spending decisions already in the pipeline and, in their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Stefan Boscia and Bethany Dawson say this one started life as a proposal to refurbish 200 surgeries.
Playbook notices the policy was first announced at the budget and that the funding was initially supposed to cover refurbs for 200 GP surgeries. A government official said the decision was made to instead spread the money around to more GP surgeries after consulting with the sector. “Instead of fewer large-scale renovations, we identified opportunities for targeted ‘quick fix’ improvements that can be implemented rapidly across more locations,” they said.
to go “further and faster” – implying there was nothing wrong with its policy direction, just the pace at which change is happening.
But, as Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot report in the Guardian this morning, in reality Downing Street is mulling over the possible need for policy change, and there is talk of revising the winter fuel payment cut.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is doing the morning interview round for No 10 this morning (no surprise there – is he ever not doing it?) and, although he has been given multiple opportunities to knock down this story, he has conspicuously failed to do so.
On BBC Breafast, asked by the presenter John Kay if there might be a change to the winter fuel payments policy in the next few weeks or months, Streeting replied:
Well, at this stage, ahead of a spending review or budget where those sorts of decisions are normally taken, I wouldn’t be close to those sorts of discussions as health secretary.
But I’m not going to insult your viewers, by the way, by pretending that winter fuel didn’t come up on the doorstep. Of course it did, and I know that people aren’t happy about winter fuel allowance in lots of cases.
On the Today programme, asked by Justin Webb if he could rule out the winter fuel payments policy being reconsidered, Streeting said:
There isn’t a formal review or anything like that going on. I do know that.
But, if this was the No 10 rebuttal, Streeting did not try very hard to make anyone think that it means the Guardian story is wrong. Streeting also repeated the point about how, if the policy was being reviewed, he would not have been told about it anyway. And he went on:
We are reflecting on what the voters told us last Thursday at the ballot box, and that is why the prime minister said over the weekend he wants the government to go further and faster at delivering real change.
Asked if he would advise Starmer that the winter fuel policy should change, Streeting said he would give his advice to the PM in private. (He did not say he would tell Starmer to stick with the policy.)
I will post more from Streeting’s interviews, and other reaction to the Guardian story, shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.15am: Eluned Morgan, Welsh first minister, gives a speech criticising the UK government’s proposed cuts to sickness and disability benefits.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs a normal cabinet meeting, followed by a political cabinet.
10am: More in Common releases its analysis of the local election results, which includes new polling that helps to explain the results.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in London.
11.30am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
2.30pm: Sarah Pochin, the new Reform UK MP for Runcorn and Helsby, is expected to take her seat.
2.30pm: Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, and Lord Grade, its chair, give evidence to the Commons culture committee.
2.30pm: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, gives a statement to MSPs about plans to improve access to GPs in Scotland.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Source: theguardian.com
