UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to abolish NHS England in a bid to cut bureaucracy and bring the health service back into democratic control.
He said the move will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested into frontline healthcare, including hiring more nurses and doctors.
NHS England, created in 2013 under the Conservative government, currently operates independently but is funded by taxpayers.
Starmer who plans to cut the civil service workforce and integrate Artificial intelligence to save £45 billion annuall, argues that such decisions involving billions of pounds should be directly overseen by the government.
Reacting, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was in Scotland and said she has no issue with the decision – but doesn’t trust the government of the day to improve the health service.
“I think every government that is elected should do whatever it thinks it needs to do to deliver services for the public,” she said.
“So if that’s what they think is needed, then I have no qualms with that.”
“I don’t think everything needs to go to a quango,” she added.
“However, Labour run health in Wales, and that’s doing a lot worse than England.
“So I don’t have any confidence that just because they’re bringing [the NHS] under Labour control that’s going to improve things.”
