NHS ‘addicted to overspending’ and government ‘genuinely sorry’ for quango job losses, says Streeting
Wes Streeting said the NHS is “addicted to overspending”, as he confirmed he is seeking cuts within Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).
The health secretary told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that ICBs – which are responsible for planning local health services – have been tasked with finding 50% savings to boost efficiency.
Politics latest: Streeting denies Labour ‘changing into Tories’
It’s part of the government’s plans to slash bureaucracy in the health service – which Mr Streeting acknowledged on Sunday would cause anxiety among administrators facing job losses.
Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting visit a healthcare provider in Surrey. Pic: Reuters
He said he was “genuinely sorry” for people worried about the future, but efficiency savings would divert money to the frontline of the NHS.
Confirming that Jim Mackey, head of the soon-to-be abolished NHS England, had written to ICBs asking them to halve their running costs, Mr Streeting said: “Financial plans to us would have involved an overspend between £5bn and £6bn before the new financial year is even begun.
“And I’m afraid this speaks to the culture that I identified before the general election, where the NHS is addicted to overspending, is addicted to running operating deficits with the assumption that someone will come along to bail them out, which local councils would never be able to do.”
Reports of the cuts have sparked concerns among health leaders.
Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation, said it will require “major changes” and make the task of delivering “long term transformation of the NHS much harder”.
An NHS hospital ward. File pic: PA
Mr Streeting denied the cut was effectively a form of austerity, saying the government is going after a culture of “waste and inefficiency” which “isn’t just frustrating patients and taxpayers” but staff working for the NHS too.
“They can see layer upon layer upon layer of bureaucracy and accountability,” he said.
“That’s not the fault of the people working in the system. They are also victims of it.
“And that’s why we’re going hard at achieving those savings in order to redeploy money into frontline services, which benefit patients.”
The government also announced this week it would be scrapping NHS England, the world’s biggest quango, saying there is too much duplication with the work that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) does.
Scrapping NHS England ‘beginning not the end’
Mr Streeting has since indicated he will look to scrap other health-related bodies, writing in The Sunday Telegraph that axing NHS England is “the beginning, not the end”.
Asked what other organisations could be for the chopping board, Mr Streeting said he did not want to “get ahead” of a review by Dr Penny Dash into the operational effectiveness of NHS regulators.
“What I will do is look at how we can reduce the number of regulators, reduce the number of regulations wherever possible… and try to reduce the amount of money we are spending,” he said.
Read More:
What does end of NHS England mean for you?
Health secretary faces questions over disability cuts
The cabinet minister defended the language being used to describe the plans, after he described the NHS as being “bloated” by bureaucracy and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it “flabby”.
Streeting ‘genuinely sorry’ about job losses
Mr Streeting stressed he was “talking about the system, not the people who work in it” – adding that he was “genuinely sorry” about the job losses that will come down the line.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Conservatives: Scrapping NHS England is ‘right thing’
The government has not yet said how many jobs it expects to axe under the reforms.
Mr Streeting acknowledged lots of people will be anxious about their futures, adding: “I’m genuinely sorry about that, because I don’t want them to be in that position. But I’ve got to make the changes.”
The government’s plans have generally received support from opposition parties, though there have been calls for more details.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said reorganisation reforms introduced by the Tories in 2013 were “well-intentioned but didn’t work” and she agrees “in principle” with what Labour has put forward.
However she said the changes aren’t a “silver bullet” and could result in further costs and disruption so “we’ll need to see a very clear plan from the government for how that won’t affect waiting lists further”.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats said the government must “take the same sense of urgency shown here to social care, and complete their review by the end of the year rather than continuing to kick the can down the road”.
Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun has called on the government to consider adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, suggesting it could serve as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.
Ko, a legislator at-large in Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, took to X on Friday to report that he had advocated Bitcoin (BTC) investment by the Taiwanese government at the National Conference on May 9.
In his remarks, Ko cited Bitcoin’s potential to become a hedge amid global economic risks and urged Taiwan to recognize the cryptocurrency alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves to boost its financial resilience.
Ko’s announcement came shortly after the legislator held talks with Samson Mow, who advocates for Bitcoin adoption by states like El Salvador at his BTC tech firm Jan3.
Taiwan is an export-oriented economy
Ko highlighted that Taiwan is an export-driven economy that has experienced significant fluctuations in its national currency, the New Taiwan dollar, amid global inflation and intensifying geopolitical risks.
“We currently have a gold reserve of 423 metric tons, and our foreign exchange reserves amount to $577 billion, including investments in US Treasury bonds,” the lawmaker stated.
In a scenario of more intense currency volatility or potential regional conflicts, Taiwan may “very likely be unable to ensure the security and liquidity,” Ko continued, adding that Bitcoin could be a great addition to Taiwan’s reserves for several reasons.
“Bitcoin has been operating for over 15 years. It has a fixed total supply, is decentralized, and is resistant to censorship. Many countries are focusing on its hedging attributes. At the same time, in intense situations, it may not face the risk of embargo,” he said.
Bitcoin is not the only solution
Referring to many global initiatives considering Bitcoin adoption as a reserve asset, Ko stressed that he’s not advocating for Bitcoin as the “only solution” to rising economic challenges.
Instead, the legislator suggested adding a “small proportion of Bitcoin” into the diversified assets as tools for sovereign asset allocation and risk hedging, and backup capacity of Taiwan’s financial system.
Related: Trump tricked into pushing XRP for crypto reserve: Report
He previously suggested that Taiwan could allocate a maximum of 5% of its $50 billion reserve to Bitcoin in an X post on May 6.
“When exchange rate risk and regional uncertainty increase, it is time to introduce new tools to construct a more flexible financial strategy framework,” Ko said, adding:
“As former Dean Chen Chong said, Bitcoin is the gun of the digital era. It may also be the gold of the digital era, the silver of the digital era. Or it could be gunpowder. A wise nation will not let weapons be in others’ hands.”
The news comes as Taiwan is emerging as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, with the Financial Supervisory Commission pushing institutional trials of crypto custody services in late 2024.
Mainland China continues to maintain its hostile stance on cryptocurrency after imposing a ban on multiple crypto activities, including mining, in 2021.
Magazine: Adam Back says Bitcoin price cycle ’10x bigger’ but will still decisively break above $100K
German law enforcement seized 34 million euros ($38 million) in cryptocurrency from eXch, a cryptocurrency platform allegedly used to launder funds stolen after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack.
The seizure, announced on May 9 by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office, involved multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH). The move marks the third-largest crypto confiscation in the BKA’s history.
The authorities also seized eXch’s German server infrastructure with over eight terabytes of data and shut down the platform, the announcement added.
eXch exchanged crypto without AML
In the statement, the BKA described eXch as a “swapping” service that allowed users to exchange various crypto assets without implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.
The platform had operated since 2014 and reportedly facilitated about $1.9 billion in crypto transfers, some of which were believed to be of “criminal origin,” including assets laundered during the Bybit hack.
“Among other things, a portion of the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange, which was hacked on Feb. 21, 2025, is said to have been exchanged via eXch,” the authorities wrote.
Multisig, FixedFloat among laundering cases
According to a post by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, eXch was also involved in laundering millions of funds from other crypto thefts and exploits, including Multisig, FixedFloat and the $243 million Genesis creditor theft.
Those were in addition to “countless phishing drainer services over the past few years with refusal to block addresses and freeze orders,” ZachXBT said.
ZachXBT was among the first security analysts to report on eXch’s links to laundering $35 million of crypto assets stolen from Bybit soon after the hack was confirmed.
Related: Hacken CEO sees ‘no shift’ in crypto security as April hacks hit $357M
“Lazarus Group transferred 5K ETH from the Bybit Hack to a new address and began laundering funds via eXch (a centralized mixer) and bridging funds to Bitcoin via Chainflip,” ZachXBT wrote in a Telegram post on Feb. 22.
eXch announced termination of services by May 1
After initially denying involvement in laundering funds from the Bybit hack, eXch eventually announced it would cease operations by May 1 in a Bitcoin Talk post published in mid-April.
“Even though we have been able to operate despite some failed attempts to shut down our infrastructure […], we don’t see any point in operating in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT [Signals Intelligence] simply because some people misinterpret our goals,” it wrote.
Addressing the seizure, senior public prosecutor Benjamin Krause stressed the importance of action against “quick and anonymous opportunities for money laundering for any amount.”
“Crypto swapping is an essential component of the underground economy, used to conceal incriminated funds from illegal activities such as hacking or trading in stolen payment card data, thus making them available to perpetrators,” he said.
Magazine: Finally blast into space with Justin Sun, Vietnam’s new national blockchain: Asia Express
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway