We can’t keep getting it wrong first time, Streeting admits after series of government U-turns
Wes Streeting has admitted the government must try to “get it right first time”, amid criticism sparked by a series of recent U-turns.
The health secretary defended the government’s record on policy downhills, insisting feedback was the “breakfast of champions”.
But when asked whether U-turns were hindering progress, Mr Streeting said the government’s “new year’s resolution” should be to avoid misunderstanding in the first place.
comes later Independent Rachel Reeves is set to make a U-turn on plans to scrap business rates relief for the hospitality industry after a backlash from pubs across the country, it has been revealed.
Speaking at the annual Institute of Government conference in central London, Mr Streeting told delegates: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.
“We love to hear that, and if people think we’ve got it wrong — and we think they’re right — it’s much better to do the right thing than to avoid political embarrassment.”
He added: “We have an initiative in the NHS called GIRFT – ‘get it right the first time’.
“That should be our New Year’s resolution for 2026; let’s try to get it right the first time.”
The move is the latest in a series of U-turns by the government, which has backed away from major welfare reforms and partially reduced inheritance tax on farms under pressure from backbenchers.
Ms Reeves was also forced to abandon a plan to cancel winter fuel payments for nearly 10 million pensioners and plans to increase income tax in the Budget, which would break Labour’s manifesto commitment.
Mr Streeting also warned that the “excuse culture” had done the centre-left “no favors” and said people being told to wait to access public services were also suffering due to inequalities in the system.
“Failure to meet these challenges creates a national climate of skepticism and pessimism, but their most corrosive implication is fatalism, the idea that nothing can change,” he said.
“No matter how much we continue to enjoy the simple pleasures of home, family, and community, we lose faith in our collective ability to achieve great things.
“The right is promoting this claim. They come with chainsaws and are wreaking havoc to completely destroy public services.
“Surprisingly, some on my side of the political divide have started parroting the same argument. They complain about public services… It’s an excuse that the culture leaves no good for the centre.”
“If we tell the people we can’t make anything work, then why would they vote to keep us in office?”
On the NHS, Mr Streeting said progress had been made but there was still much to do.
“Even on our best days, there will be patients in the corridors and on the trolleys being treated in conditions that fall short of my wishes and expectations for our health care,” he said.
Mr Streeting said he had never forgotten that “the British state is like a shopping trolley with a slightly dodgy front wheel that will always steer towards the status quo unless it is pointed in the right direction”.
Arguing that reform was necessary, the health minister said that the state was inefficient at a time when resources were limited.
“People pay more taxes, but they get worse service in return,” he said.
“Our fortune is in our hands,” the cabinet minister said, adding: “we are in the best position to change it precisely because we on the centre-left believe in the power of the state to transform people’s lives.”
He added: “Where there are no levers we build them, where there are barriers we bulldoze them.
“If the people in charge are not up to the job, we replace them with the best and brightest.”
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