Tony Blair has said that the NHS is “not serving its purpose” in an exclusive interview with Sky News.
Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, the former PM didn’t mince his words when addressing the current state of the UK’s health service.
Asked if he thought the NHS was providing a good standard of service, Mr Blair replied: “No, at the moment. In some respects the staff do a great job in difficult circumstances.
“And I think the general experience of people is if you’re in really acute difficulty, then then it still does provide very good care.
“But a lot of the waiting lists are terrible, COVID, of course, has made it a lot worse.
“The truth is, you’re not going to have a lot more money to spend, but you do have to think how do we do things completely differently.”
He went on to say that he felt there should be more private sector involvement in the NHS, saying there should be “complete cooperation between the public and private sector”.
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Mr Blair said: “The problem always with the public sector, and this is what I learned in government, is the tough thing is to get it to innovate.
“Because in the private sector, if you don’t innovate, you go out of business, but it doesn’t happen in the public sector.”
He added that “private” shouldn’t be considered a “dirty word” and went on to say that the NHS, in its current state, was not serving its purpose, despite employing more people than ever before.
The former prime minister said: “The NHS is a great institution and we should keep its principles. But the truth? I mean, you don’t have to be a genius to look at it and say it’s not, it’s not serving its purpose.”
The full interview with Tony Blair will be on the Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme on Sky News from 8.30am this morning.
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Labour will eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in 10 years, the environment secretary has told Sky News.
Steve Reed also pledged to halve sewage pollution from water companies by 2030 as he announced £104 billion of private investment to help the government do that.
“Over a decade of national renewal, we’ll be able to eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages,” he said.
“But you have to have staging posts along the way, cutting it in half in five years is a dramatic improvement to the problem getting worse and worse and worse every single year.”
He said the water sector is “absolutely broken” and promised to rebuild it and reform it from “top to bottom”.
His earlier pledge to halve sewage pollution from water companies by 2030 is linked to 2024 levels.
The government said it is the first time ministers have set a clear target to reduce sewage pollution and is part of its efforts to respond to record sewage spills and rising water bills.
Ministers are also aiming to cut phosphorus – which causes harmful algae blooms – in half by 2028.
Image: Environment Secretary Steve Reed. File pic: PA
Mr Reed said families had watched rivers, coastlines and lakes “suffer from record levels of pollution”.
“My pledge to you: the government will halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade,” he added.
Addressing suggestions wealthier families would be charged more for their water, Mr Reed said there are already “social tariffs” and he does not think more needs to be done, as he pointed out there is help for those struggling to pay water bills.
The announcement comes ahead of the publication of the Independent Water Commission’s landmark review into the sector on Monday morning.
The commission was established by the UK and Welsh governments as part of their joint response to failures in the industry, but ministers have already said they’ll stop short of nationalising water companies.
Mr Reed said he is eagerly awaiting the report’s publication and said he would wait to see what author Sir John Cunliffe says about Ofwat, the water regulator, following suggestions the government is considering scrapping it.
On Friday, the Environment Agency published data which showed serious pollution incidents caused by water firms increased by 60% in England last year, compared with 2023.
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Why sewage outflows are discharging into rivers
Meanwhile, the watchdog has received a record £189m to support hundreds of enforcement officers for inspections and prosecutions.
“One of the largest infrastructure projects in England’s history will clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good,” Mr Reed said.
But the Conservatives have accused the Labour government of having so far “simply copied previous Conservative government policy”.
“Labour’s water plans must also include credible proposals to improve the water system’s resilience to droughts, without placing an additional burden on bill payers and taxpayers,” shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins added.
The Rivers Trust says sewage and wastewater discharges have taken place over the weekend, amid thunderstorms in parts of the UK.
Discharges take place to prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed, with storm overflows used to release extra wastewater and rainwater into rivers and seas.
Water company Southern Water said storm releases are part of the way sewage and drainage systems across the world protect homes, schools and hospitals from flooding.