‘If you don’t reform the NHS I fear it will die’: Sir Keir Starmer pledges overhaul of GP services
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to overhaul GP services if he gets into power, saying the NHS will “die” without drastic change.
The Labour leader revealed his plans in the Sunday Telegraph, including making family doctors direct employees of the NHS and allowing patients to self refer to specialists.
Speaking to broadcasters later, he issued a stark warning about the service, saying: “Frankly, if you don’t reform the NHS then I fear it will die.”
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Dr Philip Banfield, chair of the British Medical Association, criticised the plans, saying GPs were “one of the most efficient and effective parts of the health service”.
Labour has already unveiled some of its proposals for the NHS if it took power at the next election, including funding more medical school places by scrapping the non-dom tax status and introducing a 10-year plan for reform.
Sir Keir gave more detail today, with a focus on primary care, saying: “When people can’t walk through that front door they inevitably end up going through another, more expensive one – the hospital.
“Quality care in the community provided by GPs is the difference between a diabetes patient living a happy, fulfilled life versus needing an emergency amputation. It is that stark.”
Writing in the newspaper, he said he would phase in a new system as existing GPs retire, replacing their contracts with direct NHS employment for new practitioners, allowing them to “focus on caring for patients rather than the admin that comes with effectively running a small business”.
He also said he would “be ruthless with the bureaucratic nonsense”, so, for example, people with back pain could refer themselves to a physio, or people needing tests could do them at home, rather than going through a GP.
Speaking later from central London, the party leader said: “I am a passionate defender of the NHS but in order to preserve the NHS going forward it has to change.
“And what we have seen is the worst NHS crisis under this government and every year it just gets worse. I think if we reform the NHS we can… make it fit for the 21st century and have it absolutely focused on patients.”
‘Managed decline’ under Tories
Sir Keir attacked the government’s handling of the service, accusing them of “just presiding over the managed decline – and that I will not accept for a Labour government”.
He also headed off his critics, pointing to his previous work running a public body.
“I have long believed in reform of public services,” he added. “When I ran the Crown Prosecution Service I could see the reform we needed.
“We will always have, whether it be the NHS or any other public service, people who say, ‘well don’t do it, it has always been done this way’. They are nearly always wrong.
“Of course there will be challenges whenever you reform something but frankly, if you don’t reform the NHS then I fear it will die.”
Dr Banfield is one of those against the changes, specifically the plan for self-referral.
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He also told Sky News about his wife’s experience spending 12 hours on an A&E trolley.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge that he had met with Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting this week to discuss the proposals and “we had to agree to disagree”, with the chair claiming the MP “doesn’t understand general practice”.
“GPs are one of the most efficient and effective parts of the health service in the way that they manage risk, they are superb at it,” Dr Banfield added.
He also said Labour “have a lot of work to do between now and an election” to get his organisation onside.
“We have offered to help them with that and we’ll do business with anyone who has the right policies,” he said.
World
Up to a million Palestinians could be ‘permanently relocated’ to war-torn Libya under US plans
Up to a million Palestinians could be permanently relocated from devastated Gaza to war-torn Libya under plans being worked on by Donald Trump’s administration, NBC News reports.
The idea has been discussed with Libya’s leadership, sources told Sky’s US partner network, and would potentially see billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds released.
The North African country remains divided in two – nearly 14 years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi sparked a civil war – with two rival governments fighting for control.
It comes as Israel continues a campaign of airstrikes on Gaza, with 93 people killed and hundreds injured on Friday, according to local medics.
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Sky’s team saw bodies arrive at Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital
No final agreement on any Libya plans have been reached, sources told NBC News, and US government agencies did not respond to requests for comment from the news outlet.
Previous suggestions to resettle Palestinians from Gaza – voluntarily or otherwise – have provoked international outcry, particularly from Arab states who likely will play a role in rebuilding the enclave after any permanent ceasefire deal.
And Libya is far from a safe nation, according to the US State Department’s own travel advice, which says Americans should not travel to the country “due to crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.
President Trump, speaking on the final day of his Middle East trip, said he was looking to resolve a range of global crises, including Gaza.
“We’re looking at Gaza,” he said. “And we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are – there’s a lot of bad things going on.”
An Israeli tank nears the border with Gaza. Pic: Reuters
There had been hopes that his tour of the region could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or prompt Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza that is preventing humanitarian aid from getting in.
But instead Israel has continued to launch airstrikes on the territory, killing more than 250 people in the last two days, according to Hamas-run health authorities.
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The Israeli military, which had dropped leaflets on the northern town of Beit Lahia ordering residents to leave, said their airforce had struck more than 150 military targets across Gaza in recent days.
This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.
Israeli officials said the latest strikes were a prelude to a larger military campaign in Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages.
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Trump wraps up Middle East tour
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Ahmed Abu Riziq, founder of the Gaza Great Minds Foundation, which seeks to give children access to education in Gaza, said “the hell doors opened” in the last few days.
Speaking to Sky News from Gaza City, he said: “Myself with my family, we had to flee today from some certain areas in northern Gaza City… people are running in the streets. They don’t know where to go or where to sleep at night. So it’s really catastrophic.”
“No food is entering Gaza,” he added, saying that people are dying from hunger.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this month that Israel plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, warned the Security Council this week it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim Israel vehemently denies.
Russia and Ukraine failed to agree to a ceasefire in their first direct talks since 2022 – as European leaders called Moscow’s approach “unacceptable” after the discussions lasted less than two hours and Vladimir Putin stayed away.
The meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, was set up at short notice on President Putin‘s behest, but he declined a challenge from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet him in person and instead sent relatively junior representatives.
A source in the Ukrainian team told Sky News that Russia had threatened “eternal war” during the talks.
They said the Russians were not ready to talk about technical details of a ceasefire and were waiting for superiors to approve them.
Latest updates on Istanbul talks
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan chairs a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul. Pic: Reuters
Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each in what would be the biggest such exchange yet of the conflict.
But Kyiv wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Donald Trump for a 30-day ceasefire.
President Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he had spoken to Mr Trump by phone – alongside Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland – who all met in Albania on Friday.
In a post on X, he said Ukraine was “ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace” and that “tough sanctions must follow” if Russia continues to resist a month-long truce.
The Ukrainian delegation. Pic: Reuters
The Russian delegation. Pic: Reuters
Frustration over Russia‘s perceived stalling in holding serious negotiations was also clear from the European leaders gathered in Tirana.
“The Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time,” said Sir Keir.
“So as a result of that meeting with President Zelenskyy and that call with President Trump we are now closely aligning our responses and will continue to do so.”
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The talks were held in Dolmabache Palace in Istanbul. Pic: AP
The UK prime minister said the no-show by Russia’s leader was “more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace” and has “been dragging his heels”.
NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, who was also in Albania, said President Putin had made a “big mistake” by sending low-level delegates to Istanbul.
A list of representatives ahead of the meeting listed presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich and deputy defence chief Alexander Fomin.
Ukraine’s delegation was led by defence minister Rustem Umerov.
President Zelenskyy had called the Russian team “a theatre prop” ahead of the summit in the Dolmabahce Palace.
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Ukrainian ‘despair’ over missing civilians
However, Turkey’s foreign minister heralded it as “an important day for world peace” and said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to swap 1,000 POWs each as a “confidence-building measure”.
Hakan Fidan shared a picture of the delegations and said they had “agreed to share with the other side in writing the conditions that would make it possible to reach a ceasefire”.
Russia’s Vladimir Medinsky said his team had “taken note” of the Ukrainian request for direct talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy.
“We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail,” said Mr Medinsky.
Hopes ahead of the meeting were low after Mr Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, played down the prospect of meaningful progress.
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Trump on meeting Putin: ‘As soon as we can set it up’
The US president told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together”, while Mr Rubio said a “breakthrough” was unlikely until the US and Russian presidents meet.
No date for such a meeting has been proposed, but Mr Trump has said it will happen “as soon as we can set it up”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that top-level talks were “certainly needed” but arranging it would take time.
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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was a notable absentee, despite attending Ukraine-focused talks with the US in Saudi Arabia in February.
Russia has so far failed to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – proposed by European leaders who have threatened Moscow with “massive” sanctions if it doesn’t sign up. The US also supports the plan.
The Kremlin has ambitions to keep swathes of Ukrainian land as part of any long-term truce, an idea that Kyiv firmly rejects.
Russia also wants an end to Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and a promise it will stay neutral.
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