Streeting says ‘hell of a lot’ still to do after PM says NHS has met its two million extra appointments pledge – UK politics live

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A group of more than 900 Labour members and trade unionists, including MPs and peers, have accused the government of copying the “performative cruelty” of the Conservatives in its migration and asylum policy.

In a joint statement, they singled out the Home Office’s decision, revealed last week, to refuse citizenship to anyone who arrives in the UK via “a dangerous journey” such as a small boat over the Channel.

The statement also criticised ministers for highlighting the number of people being deported from the UK, with a Home Office publicity blitz last week using footage and images showing people being removed on planes…

Starmer says countries across Europe must “step up” their defence capabilities and funding to protect Ukraine.

The UK and Europe face a “generational challenge” and “need to do more” to secure Ukraine’s security in the long term, he adds.

Lib Dems back Starmer on Ukraine peace troops

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says he supports the Government in sending British peacekeeper troops to Ukraine, saying it is “absolutely” the right decision. He adds that Starmer should reverse the 10,000 troops the Conservative government cut from the Army.

Davey says:

The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin.

We’ve been very clear that the UK now needs to lead in Europe. That means ensuring that President Zelensky isn’t bullied into accepting a deal which effectively hands victory to Russia.

We must act rapidly to bolster the size of the Army. British forces are among the best in the world but were neglected by the Conservatives under their 10,000 troop cut. Our armed forces must have the capabilities they need to help keep our country and continent secure against Putin.”

An extra two million extra NHS appointments within Labour’s first year in government is “just the foothills”, Sir Keir Starmer says.

The prime minister told reporters at a diagnostics centre in Bristol: “I said that we would get two million extra appointments done in the first year of the Government and I’m really pleased that we’ve done that, we’ve hit the target and we’ve done it with seven months to spare.

“So, that is really good. It shows what you can do with a plan that you put into action, working with doctors and nurses, NHS staff.

“I do acknowledge it’s the foothills. There’s lots, lots more to do, but it is important, I think, to consider the human impact.”

Lib Dems: 'Sad' that Badenoch has chosen to 'parrot Trump’s dangerous rhetoric'

In a reaction to Kemi Badenoch’s speech in London at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, the Liberal Democrats deputy leader Daisy Cooper has accused the Tory leader of “competing with Farage to fawn over Donald Trump” and choosing to “parrot Trump’s dangerous rhetoric”.

During a passage of her speech, Badenoch drew warm applause in the room when she said:

The Conservative party in Britain has just lost an election. We have a crisis. People ask me what difference new leadership will make? Well, take a look at president Trump. He’s shown that sometimes you need that first stint in government to spot the problems, but it’s the second time around when you really know how to fix them.

In other passages of her speech Badenoch asserted that the UK was not a racist country but suggested “some cultures are better than others” and claimed that some immigrants to the west were finding common cause with “our own useful idiots” in order to undermine society’s values.

In response, Cooper said:

Kemi Badenoch is competing with Nigel Farage to fawn over Donald Trump. Instead of standing up for Ukraine and Europe’s security, Kemi Badenoch has decided that she would rather parrot Trump’s dangerous rhetoric. To borrow a phrase from her political hero: sad.

Badenoch: 'Our country will be lost' if Conservatives don't make success of policy renewal

Kemi Badenoch has warned that western civilisation is at risk of collapse due to “weakness” and a lack of courage on the part of conservatives to support classical liberal ideas.

The Conservative leader of the opposition made the comments during a wide-ranging talk at a right-wing conservative conference in London during which she touched on various culture war talking points, claimed the prime minister Keir Starmer had been “cowed by the mob” over Black Lives Matter protests, and asserted that “some cultures are better than others”.

Pledging that she was leading “the largest renewal of policy and ideas in a generation” in the Conservative party, she said “we stand at the dawn of a new conservative century with so much opportunity and possibility” if the party gets it right, but warned “If we throw this opportunity away, because of anger, or self doubt, or weakness, our country and all of western civilisation will be lost.”

Badenoch criticised what she perceived as lack of defence spending by the current government as “weak”, described “pronouns or DEI or climate activism” as examples of what she called “the real poison of left-wing progressivism”, and also claimed that minds were being poisoned in higher education establishments.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch speaking at ExCel London. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

She opened the speech by saying “Western civilisation is in crisis,” adding “Our ideas and our culture have dominated the world for well over two centuries. This is not a crisis of values. It’s a crisis of confidence that has set in at exactly the same time that we face existential threats.”

In a strident passage dealing with immigration, Badenoch said:

Immigration is far too high. We cannot support all those who wish to come to our country. We have no obligation to do so. The British people must come first.

Our country is not racist. We don’t need to apologise. We don’t need to pay reparations or give away the Chagos islands.

Free speech matters. Some cultures are better than others, and it’s only contentious to say this because honesty has become impossible.

Most of all, we need to get up off our knees and start fighting not just for the UK, but for the west and our values.

Badenoch said that some immigrants “bring behaviours, cultures and practices that will undermine the west” and that “They find common cause with our useful idiots who don’t appreciate their own inheritance.”

The Conservative leader praised Katharine Birbalsingh, saying the headteacher had shown “how you defend western civilisation” by refusing to provide a prayer space for pupils at the school she runs despite pressure and a legal case from parents.

She warned people not to listen to the “media class” talking about populism, saying that the true purpose of democracy was to put into action the wishes of “everyday people”.

Badenoch said:

So let’s remember what we are defending here. Not just our wealth, but our culture. A culture built on those values we’ve taken for granted. Classic liberal values. Not left-wing liberalism, but classic liberalism. Of free markets, free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, the presumption of innocence, the rule of law, and equality under it. No matter who you are or where you come from.

The conference is intended to be a gathering of influential intellectuals shaping global rightwing thinking, and will also feature US House speaker Republican Mike Johnson, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Reform UK leader NIgel Farage being interviewed by Canadian psychologist and self-help author Jordan Peterson.

By the way, if you want to watch that Kemi Badenoch speech, Sky News have video of it here.

Streeting: people in England still struggling to get GP appointments but 'we will deliver year-on-year improvement'

Health secretary Wes Streeting has conceded that people in England are still struggling to get GP appointments during his round of media appearances this morning, but said the government is determined to provide “year-on-year improvement” in the NHS.

Streeting was promoting the government’s announcement that it has reached its election promise of two million extra NHS appointments in England early.

He told viewers of BBC Breakfast:

We’ve delivered on our first step, and we’ve delivered it seven months early. But I don’t want anyone watching to think we’re doing victory laps. There are still massive challenges in the NHS, a hell of a lot further to go on waiting lists.

People are still struggling to get GP appointments, and GPs are struggling, let me tell you, with the hard caseload they’ve got, and we’ve also got big challenges on things like ambulance response times and A&E trolley corridor care.

I wish I could sit here now and tell you that, by next Christmas, there will be no-one waiting on a trolley in a corridor. I can’t make that promise, but what I can tell you is that we will deliver year-on-year improvement, and I’m determined to see an end to that kind of corridor care.

The government has said waiting lists in England have fallen by almost 160,000 since the government took office, and that “the NHS delivered almost 2.2 million more elective care appointments compared to the same period the previous year.”

Badenoch: 'Our country is not racist' but 'some cultures are better than others' and 'British people must come first'

Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has asserted that “our country is not racist” but that “some cultures are better than others” in part of a speech in London where she said “immigration is far too high” and that minds are being “poisoned” in higher education institutions in the UK. She said “British people must come first”.

Speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, which is also expecting to hear from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Badenoch said:

A country cannot be successful if its people and its intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds happening in higher education.

We have been naive on economic growth. We have been naive on issues from net zero to immigration, weakening ourselves and strengthening our competitors.

Immigration is far too high. We cannot support all those who wish to come to our country. We have no obligation to do so. The British people must come first.

We cannot keep racking up debt for our children, It was fiscal weakness, not just war, that led to the decline of the Roman Empire. We need smaller government and smarter spending. The belief that the state and not business creates wealth has become normalised.

The world owes no one a living. Millions of people cannot just sit on welfare and expect to be paid to do so, and if they don’t like it, that’s their problem, not the state’s.

Our country is not racist. We don’t need to apologise. We don’t need to pay reparations or give away the Chagos islands.

Free speech matters. Some cultures are better than others, and it’s only contentious to say this because honesty has become impossible.

Most of all, we need to get up off our knees and start fighting not just for the UK, but for the west and our values.

Badenoch implored the audience “Don’t listen to the media class complain about populism. The very essence of democracy is acknowledging the will of everyday people and then actually making it happen.”

Speaking of her own mission as the new leader of the Conservatives, Badenoch said:

For those of us who seek leadership, we must do better, and that is why in the UK, my party is starting the largest renewal of policy and ideas in a generation.

This conference is part of finding those answers, and it fills me with hope.

If we get this right, we stand at the dawn of a new conservative century with so much opportunity and possibility.

If we throw this opportunity away, because of anger, or self doubt, or weakness, our country and all of western civilisation will be lost.

ARC was co-founded in 2023 by the Canadian psychologist and self-help author Jordan Peterson and the Tory peer Philippa Stroud. Financial backers include Paul Marshall, one of the owners of GB News, and the Legatum Institute libertarian thinktank. It is expected that on Tuesday as part of the conference Farage will be interviewed onstage by Peterson.

In a passage of her speech to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has said that some immigrants to western country are working with “useful idiots” to undermine society.

She said:

Millions of people all around the world want to live in the west because they want the benefits. However, some of them bring behaviours, cultures and practices that will undermine the west and the values that helped make us great. They find common cause with our useful idiots who don’t appreciate their own inheritance.

Badenoch: Starmer took knee for BLM protests because he was 'cowed by the mob'

Kemi Badenoch has accused the prime minister of taking the knee as part of Black Lives Matter protests because he was “cowed by the mob”.

Speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, in a passage in which she praised Michaela Community School headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh for refusing to provide prayer spaces or allowing prayer to take place in the school’s secular environment, the Conservative opposition leader said:

Katharine showed how you defend Western civilisation. Contrast this courage with Keir Starmer, the prime minister who took the knee during Black Lives Matter protests in response to a problem that was not in his country and did not apply. Why? Because he was cowed by the mob. The problem isn’t liberalism. The problem is weakness.

Earlier in the speech Badenoch praised what she described as the classical liberal values of free speech and freedom of religion.

Badenoch also took a swipe at the prime minister over defence spending, saying:

Totalitarian states like Russia, Iran and North Korea are coordinated in their efforts. Failing to spend more on defence is not peacemaking, it is weakness, and it only emboldens their threats to democracy and global stability.

After 14 years of Conservatives in government, defence spending in real terms in 2023/24 was £53.9bn, lower than the £57.1bn spent in 2009/10 during the last year of the previous Labour administration.

Badenoch says 'Western civilisation is in crisis' during ARC conference speech

Kemi Badenoch has been speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London. The Conservative opposition leader opened her talk by saying “Western civilisation is in crisis.”

She said that a “crisis of confidence” has set in “at exactly the same time that we face existential threats.”

She said “it is not liberal values that are the problem – it is weakness.”

Citing survey results that suggest large numbers of young people in the UK are not proud to be British, and believe the country to be racist, and have little faith in parliamentary democracy and would support “a strong leader”, Badenoch said:

We should not be surprised. Young people see a parliament presiding over stagnation, despite making more and more laws. A parliament with only a few defending our values and many more too scared to challenge those who attack what we believe in.

She said:

So let’s remember what we are defending here. Not just our wealth, but our culture. A culture built on those values we’ve taken for granted. Classic liberal values. Not left-wing liberalism, but classic liberalism. Of free markets, free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, the presumption of innocence, the rule of law, and equality under it. No matter who you are or where you come from.

As the world becomes more complicated, we need to bravely fight for these values now.

Instead, we are distracted, too busy critiquing and deconstructing what previous generations built, rather than making sure that the very best of our inheritance is left intact for the next generation.

This is the real poison of left-wing progressivism, whether it’s pronouns or DEI or climate activism. These issues aren’t about kindness. They are about control. We have limited time and every second spent debating what a woman is, is a second lost from dealing with these challenges.

Streeting: NHS immigration impact is 'mixed picture' as many people come to work in health and social care

Asked about the impact of migration on NHS services while appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, health secretary Wes Streeting said it was “a mixed picture”.

Suggesting that the service was “slightly over-reliant on overseas workers” he told viewers:

There’s no doubt that net migration is placing real pressure on the NHS. But it’s a mixed picture, because in those figures are also people who are coming to work in our NHS and social care services.

So we are, I think, slightly over-reliant on overseas workers to staff our health and care services. And I think it’s partly my job to help the home secretary reduce those net migration figures.

And overall, we were investing in the skills of our nation so we can train up our own people, to reduce our reliance on people coming from overseas to fill vacancies.

Streeting had been asked “What about the pressure on the NHS of immigration, legal and illegal? We see figures just this weekend, very high. Hundreds of people crossed over the weekend, and it’s February. We’re not even in spring or summer. That’s putting immense pressure on the NHS, isn’t it?”

The health secretary defended the government’s record, saying:

On the question of illegal migration, in common with other challenges across government, we’ve made progress in the first seven months, especially on deportations of people who shouldn’t be here.

And the home secretary and the prime minister have been working ferociously with our allies across Europe, particularly countries like Italy, where this is also a challenge, to start dealing with our border security issues.

And just last week, we put legislation through parliament to set up our secure border command, which, unfortunately, the Conservatives and Reform voted against. But we are making progress. And in common with what I said about the NHS, a lot done, a hell of a lot more still to do.