What I learned in a ‘quick meeting’ with Labor boss Wes Streeting

The country’s likely next health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, has refused to commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap, which poverty campaigners say has pushed the number of poor children in Birmingham and the rest of the country to record levels .

“We’re not raising it,” Streeting said flatly when answering questions from BirminghamLive ahead of polling day in the general election, amid growing clamor for a return to the manifesto, including from local Labor MPs. He said it’s “not accessible” right now.

It was one of four issues BirminghamLive raised with the likely next head of the NHS and social care services during a quick seven-minute interview ahead of General Election polling day. In a format akin to a speed-dating set-up, we linked up to chat with Streeting from Labour’s London HQ, where he made the case for voters to turn up for change.

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Among the things we learned in our brief meeting:

• The West Midlands “will decide who governs Britain” due to the large number of marginal seats in the region, particularly in the Black Country and on the outskirts of Birmingham. If the red wall is rebuilt here, it will mean a clear victory for Labour
• There is no ‘magic wand’ to fix hospitals, the NHS in general, social care and local government – so prepare for more delays and pain
• A report setting out a plan to prepare for this year’s inevitable “winter pressures” in hospitals and social care has already been commissioned ahead of the election
• Forget ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ – Streeting’s election anthem is David Bowie’s ‘Changes’.
• A promise of “no top-down reorganisation” of the NHS, but a commitment to take “exceptional” best practice from some parts of the country and “make the exceptional ordinary”.
• A claim NHS staff are behind him in ‘cry for change’
• No promise of more money for struggling Birmingham City Council, but a commitment to extend more devolution responsibilities and purchasing power to the regions.

About child poverty

The two-child benefit cap, introduced by the Tories in 2017, penalizes poorer families with more than two children and has been described as “cruel” and “immoral” by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and “a key cause of poverty in children raising”. by the Child Poverty Action Group. It has been universally condemned as an indicator of poverty by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Trussell Trust, Citizens Advice, Crisis and Barnardo’s, among many others, and research shows it has driven thousands more families into crisis since it came into force.

In some parts of Birmingham, three out of four children are growing up in poor households, with the worst affected areas concentrated in East Birmingham:

• Bordesley Green North – 74% of children in poverty
• Belchers Lane and Eastfield Road, Birmingham – 73%
• Washwood Heath, Birmingham – 73%
• Sparkhill North, Birmingham – 69%
• Balsall Heath East, Birmingham – 67%
• Sparkbrook South, Birmingham – 66%
• Small Heath Park, Birmingham – 65%
• Aston Park, Birmingham – 64%
• Sparkbrook North, Birmingham – 63%.

Many affected families have working parents who qualify for Additional Child Tax or Universal Credit due to low incomes. But from 2017 those payments were calculated based on a maximum of two children. On not promising to lift the cap, he said: “At this stage we are not lifting it. Every promise included in our Manifesto had to be a promise we could keep and be 100% sure we could afford.

“We opposed (the two-child limit) when it came out … and one of the reasons we want to bring growth into the economy is that if it grows under this Labor government at the rate it did under the last, there will either be tens of billions of pounds more to invest in public services or put back into people’s pockets without having to saddle people with higher taxes.” He insisted: “We are ambitious about child poverty.”

But there is no guarantee that any resulting boost will be used on this specific issue, with the Labor leadership resisting calls to set out its future spending plans. Streeting said: “We will produce a cross-government strategy on child poverty once we are in government. We have a strong track record in this regard. The last Labor government lifted a million children out of poverty. close to my heart, as it is for Keir (Starmer), Bridget (Phillipson), Angela (Rayner), who also experienced poverty and hardship growing up.

“Some of the policies in our manifesto would help us make a real difference quickly. Breakfast clubs in primary schools will help children start the day with hungry minds, not hungry bellies. Ensuring we insulate millions of homes with good quality insulation will help reduce Fuel Poverty Our new deal for working people, such as improving pay and banning zero-hours contracts, would make a real difference to people, as would banning no-fault evictions built to lower rents and make housing more affordable.”

ABOUT HOSPITAL CARE and the NHS

Reducing NHS waiting times is one of Labour’s six “first steps for change” outlined in its manifesto, with help from the private sector. It plans to provide 40,000 more appointments each week to reduce waiting lists, double the number of scans to diagnose earlier and treat faster, mental health support in every school, mental health centers in every community and 8,500 extra mental health workers to reduce mental health waiting. lists. That’s more than 700,000 emergency dental appointments and more GP training.

“People will honor us. We won’t be able to wave a magic Labor wand and people know it will take time to fix the NHS and social care,” Mr Streeting said.

“For this winter I asked before the election that there is a plan waiting for me on the plans; it won’t be an easy winter, there will be risks and challenges… (but I want to see) from year to year. improvements so that by the end of the first term (to 2029) people can see an NHS that is finally back and feel the change that a Labor government has brought”. He also pledged to create a National Care Service with an equal focus on social care provision and the work of carers.

About David Bowie’s changes

Streeting’s campaign anthem is David Bowie’s Changes, which he says he listens to every morning on the campaign trail as a motivational boost. Streeting says: “It’s a banger, of course, but it speaks to what is desperately needed in our country and particularly in our health service.” He’s no doubt thinking of Rishi Sunak when he sings along with the lyrics, “Where’s your shame? You left us up to our necks in it.

To vote

“The West Midlands will decide who governs Britain,” Streeting said, referring to the spate of “marginal” seats in the region, particularly concentrated in the Black Country, which Labor will need to go to secure an overall victory. “You have a clear choice on Thursday – change with Labor or no change with the Tories, choose wisely, you only get change with Labor if you turn up and vote for it.”