Streeting says taxes are too high as he calls for closer trade with EU to help economy
Wes Streeting has warned that taxes are too high, saying he is “diplomatically dodging” the issue of replacing Sir Keir Starmer.
The health secretary, a front-runner to become the next Labor leader, also said the “best way” to achieve more growth in the faltering UK economy was a deeper trade relationship with the EU.
But he insisted he had Sir Keir’s “absolute support” and said the extraordinary row over briefings against him in No 10 was now “water under the bridge”.
Mr Streeting also warned that Britain had suffered a “major economic blow” with Brexit.
He said the Prime Minister’s “restart” with the EU was “a good start” but that while both the country and the government “want a closer trading relationship with Europe” a return to freedom of movement was not possible.
With Labor trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the polls, Mr Streeting is seen as a leading candidate to replace Sir Keir, along with home secretary Shabana Mahmood and former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
On Sunday Labor leader Anna Turley was forced to say “of course, absolutely” when asked if Sir Keir would still be Prime Minister next Christmas.
Last week former Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed that he had effectively backed Ms Mahmood as a future Labor leader, praising her in a public meeting as “brilliant” and “impressive”.
While taxes were seen rising by £26bn in the November Budget, the Official Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said none of the measures announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves would have a “material impact” on growth.
In an interview with Observer, Mr Streeting said he was “really disturbed by the level of taxation in this country. We’re asking a lot of individual taxpayers, we’re asking a lot of businesses. We have a level of indebtedness that we need to take very seriously. The best way to deliver more growth to our economy is to have a deeper trading relationship with the EU.”
He also said the NHS was “coping” during the junior doctors’ strike but admitted he was worried about the days ahead.
Junior doctors, who went on strike on Wednesday after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) rejected the government’s new offer, will return to work at 7am on Monday morning.
Mr Streeting said: “I think the NHS is coping with this situation… The period that concerns me more is the post-strike period when we have to try to improve the service. This period now coincides with the NHS being at its busiest.”
He said on Friday he wanted to end the dispute and “we will sit down with them again in the new year” but insisted he had a responsibility to all NHS staff.
“I don’t think doctors are selfish and don’t care about nurses and other healthcare workers, but the BMA’s stance can be quite harsh and uncompromising,” he said.
But he laughed off suggestions he had reached an agreement with Ms Rayner over the leadership battle.
“I’ve been reading some things lately and I don’t think it bears any resemblance to reality,” he said.
“The more I see this job, the pressure on Keir and the demands of the job up close, the more I wonder why anyone would want this.”
However, he did not neglect to be a leader.
“I’m diplomatically dodging the question to avoid any more of the ridiculous soap operas we’ve had over the last few months,” he said.
Asked if the UK would vote for a gay prime minister, he added: “One of the things I’m proud of about this country is that we have an atheist prime minister with a Jewish wife, instead of our first Hindu prime minister, who has stood for a lot of women. I think this is an inclusive, welcoming, decent and kind country.”
The interview took place just a week after Mr Streeting expressed frustration with the Labor leadership’s “practical, technocratic approach”.
He also warned in a chat with the New Statesman magazine that the government was at risk of presenting itself as merely “the country’s maintenance department” and failing to convey its achievements.
