Keir Starmer has announced that the Labour government will abolish the administration of the NHS England.
In a key speech in Hull, quoted by The Telegraph, Starmer said:
– In government, there was a clear moment when the Tories crossed the Rubicon, it was early, and it was decisive, and it sent a signal across Whitehall that was never undone.
The number of staff at NHS headquarters will be halved as part of an overhaul by health minister Wes Streeting.
It’s almost as if the UK government has been inspired by the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). If so, it’s about time.
The UK’s bloated public sector is spiralling out of control. Even Labour, the traditional champions of the state, seem to recognise the problem.
Keir Starmer is drawing up plans, dubbed «Operation Chainsaw», to reduce the size of the state, while the government struggles desperately to create economic growth.
The number of employees in ministries and agencies has quintupled since 2019 levels. The number of public sector employees has increased by 21 per cent in the last five years. This is costing taxpayers huge sums of money.
When asked by a cancer patient how the reforms will work in practice, Starmer continued:
– One of the reasons we are abolishing it is the overlap. We have a communications team in NHS England, we have a communications team in the Department of Health, a strategy team in NHS England and a strategy team in the government department.
– We’re duplicating things that could have been done once. If you remove all that, which is what we’re doing today, we can free up money to be spent where it’s needed, on the frontline.
This seems like a sensible decision by Starmer. Then we’ll see if any judges find that this is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
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