Reform is vital to save the NHS for the next generation
New Health Secretary Matt Hancock must get to grips with his brief quickly
Healthy reform
THE latest damning statistics on patients’ access to GPs are deeply concerning.
Add to that the fact the heatwave has caused a “summer crisis” in the NHS and you’re entitled to wonder whether the promised £20billion already announced is going to be enough.
The short answer is it has to be, because there isn’t any more rattling around the back of the Treasury sofa — and the Tories can’t afford to choke off the economy with more borrowing or, even worse, any more tax hikes.
New Health Secretary Matt Hancock must get to grips with his brief quickly. That means more than wearing a new NHS badge and rightly praising the hard-working frontline staff.
He cannot shirk from the fight to make our health service more efficient and to prioritise cash where it’s needed.
Reform is never easy, not least with a tiny Parliamentary majority. There will be winners but losers too — and you can bet they’ll protest. But if not now, when?
An ageing population is only the most obvious challenge. Reform is vital to save the NHS for the next generation.
We hope he’s ready to ruffle feathers.
Good for U
IN politics, U-turns are usually seen as a sign of weakness. Not this one.
The Government’s decision to guarantee vital funding for women’s domestic violence refuges is absolutely right, reversing a planned policy which could have done untold damage.
It is a victory for charities like Women’s Aid, for The Sun and Sun on Sunday’s campaigns and above all for victims of domestic violence, for whom these refuges are often a last resort.
The Government deserves credit.
Sell deal, PM
PRITI Patel fires the latest salvo in the Tory civil war.
She is right that Brexit has to genuinely mean Brexit, or voters will never forgive the party. And at some point the crunch will come.
The Prime Minister assures us freedom of movement will end and that we’ll be able to do trade deals. Others, including former Cabinet ministers such as Ms Patel, believe otherwise.
It is time for the Prime Minister to sell the Chequers deal directly to the country.
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Peace charters
YOU would have got good odds in the mid-Nineties if you had said Blur’s Damon Albarn and Oasis’s Liam Gallagher would be mates 20 years later.
What next? The Krays and the Richardsons sharing a roast dinner in heaven? Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank bonding over a Martini?
Good luck to both – still going strong.