Key events
Jeremy Hunt to ask UK regulators to investigate firms exploiting price rises
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, will ask industry regulators what they are doing about any companies exploiting rampant inflation by raising prices.
Some Conservative MPs are cutting the amount of time they spend at Westminster so that they can concentrate on trying to defend their seats, Lucy Fisher reports in a front page story for the Financial Times. She reports:
Conservative MPs defending marginals are able to apply for “slips” — permission to be away from the Commons — for up to one week each month to dedicate more time to campaigning in their home areas, and are being offered special help to try and improve their chances of re-election, several told the Financial Times …
Members with low visibility have been told they “need to raise their local profile more” by acting like “glorified local councillors”, said one MP involved. They have been urged by the party machine to mail out hyperlocal, single-issue leaflets, engage more with local press and attend a higher number of constituency events.
Fisher also quotes an anecdote, first used in the Sunday Times, about how Tories with majorities of under 15,000 have been told they are at risk. In their Sunday Times story yesterday, Caroline Wheeler and Harry Yorke said:
Conservative MPs have also been privately briefed on the predicted electoral meltdown. Franz Luntz, the US pollster and former adviser to Boris Johnson, sounded the alarm last Wednesday during a Q&A with the 1922 Committee of backbenchers.
During his presentation, Luntz asked MPs present to put up their hands if they had majorities of 15,000 or less. “He said, ‘You’re likely gone,’” one attendee said.
Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, says that if Conservative MPs want to keep their jobs, they would do better focusing on making sure the government does its job properly.
My rule of thumb is in straight Tory-Labour fight, assuming no scandal/negligence a good campaign can shift ~500 votes vs national swing/demographics. Truth is would be better for MPs electoral prospects (& sense of purpose) to try and get things done in Parliament for last year https://t.co/9z5mwyTcPl
— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) June 26, 2023
Sad truth, but usually in focus groups no one has much idea about their local MP (a couple of exceptions) – even those in Cabinet. We did a group in a then Minister’s seat a year or so ago & someone confidently assured me that (their very much living) MP had died a few years back
— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) June 26, 2023
Health minister rejects claim Tories ‘failing on NHS’ – but does not contest report saying other health systems perform better
Helen Whately, the social care minister, was the voice of the government on the airwaves this morning and, when asked about the King’s Fund report (see 9.28am), she did not seek to contest its findings. On the Today programme, asked if she accepted that for many cancers, and for conditions such as strokes, outcomes in the UK were not as good as in many comparable countries, she did not challenge the premise of the question. Instead she replied:
We know there are conditions and cancers, for example, and other major conditions like heart disease where, if only we could diagnose and pick these things up earlier, we can help people have much better outcomes.
And that is one reason we are moving to a more integrated healthcare system, with areas across the country looking across whole populations to be able to intervene earlier and support people more preventively and [provide] earlier treatment.
And on LBC, when it was put to her that the performance of the NHS was “shambolic” by international standards, she replied:
One thing we are working on right now as a government is our major conditions strategy.
It is looking at the big killers across the country, that includes cancer and heart disease, and coming forwards with the things we can do to really move the dial on how effectively we manage to prevent, diagnose and treat people with these conditions.
Asked if the Conservatives were “failing on the NHS”, Whately replied:
I will challenge that and one thing I would say is, on our commitment to bring down the waiting times, we have made real progress in bringing down some of the longer waits that have developed following the pandemic.
Rishi Sunak says NHS faces ‘long-term challenges’ as report says it is falling behind internationally on many health outcomes
Good morning. There are few institutions in the UK as loved and respected as the NHS. This is much discussed. But far less attention is given to a more unpalatable truth, which is that by international standards, the NHS is rather mediocre. It scores very well on equity (because it is funded by general taxation, and free at the point of use), but in terms of keeping people alive, it is “more of a laggard than a leader” on many measures, according to a report today from the King’s Fund, a health thinktank.
The King’s Fund has compared health systems in 19 wealthy countries. Here is an extract from its summary.
The UK has below-average health spending per person compared to peer countries. Health spending as a share of GDP (gross domestic product) was just below average in 2019 but rose to just above average in 2020 (the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, which of course had a significant impact on the UK’s economic performance and spending on health services). The UK lags behind other countries in its capital investment, and has substantially fewer key physical resources than many of its peers, including CT and MRI scanners and hospital beds. The UK has strikingly low levels of key clinical staff, including doctors and nurses, and is heavily reliant on foreign-trained staff. Remuneration for some clinical staff groups also appears to be less competitive in the UK than in peer countries …
People in the UK receive relatively good protection from some of the catastrophic costs of falling ill. Relatively few core NHS services are charged for and certain population groups are exempt from charges. But financial protection is weaker for some services, such as dental care, and there is growing concern that people in the UK may be forced to choose between funding their own care or enduring longer waits for treatment.
But the UK performs noticeably less well than its peers – and is more of a laggard than a leader – on many important measures of health status and health care outcomes. These include health outcomes that can be heavily affected by the actions of a health system (such as surviving cancer and treatable mortality), and outcomes such as life expectancy, which are significantly affected by factors beyond the direct control of any health system.
Here is the full 120-page report. And here is my colleague Denis Campbell’s write-up.
Rishi Sunak is doing a health-related visit today and he is likely to be asked about these findings. He is publicising a new lung cancer screening programme for England, targeted at people aged 55 to 74 with a history of smoking, and in a statement released overnight he admits the NHS faces “long-term challenges”. He says:
We approach the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS, I want to ensure that it continues to thrive for the next 75 years and beyond.
And while we focus on cutting waiting lists in the short term, we must also look to tackle some of the long-term challenges facing the NHS, including lung cancer which costs 35,000 lives every year. Rolling out screening to high-risk 55-74 year olds will save lives by detecting up to 9,000 lung cancers a year at an early stage.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2pm: Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, gives evidence to the Covid inquiry.
2.45pm: Keir Starmer speaks at the India Global Forum.
After 3.30pm: MPs consider Lords amendments to the national security bill.
3.20pm: Peers consider Commons amendments to the retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill. It is the third time the bill has been sent back to the Lords, following its normal passage through both houses, because MPs and peers can’t agree on key issues.
And Rishi Sunak is on a health-related visit in Nottingham today.
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