Streeting rejects reports that Reeves will impose VAT on private healthcare in budget – UK politics live

Wes Streeting rejects reports that Reeves will impose VAT on private healthcare in budget

Good morning. Keir Starmer is delivering his speech to the Labour conference later, and it is arguably the biggest personal fightback opportunity he will get this year. Pippa Crerar has written up the overnight briefing we got about the speech from Labour. But a conference speech is primarily just a rhetorical event; a budget is a fiscal event, and a policy event, and that is why the most important moment for Labour between now and the end of the year is the budget on 26 November.

Starmer will address delegates with the media already braced for big tax rises this autumn, prompted by what Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, told the conference yesterday. Some of the papers are focusing on the general likelihood of tax increases.

Photograph: FT

Photograph: Daily Express

Photograph: The i paper

Metro splash Photograph: Metro

But one newspaper has a more specific claim. The Daily Mail says that the governent is considering putting VAT on private healthcare in the budget. It says:

And Whitehall sources told the Daily Mail that the Treasury was examining options for adding VAT to services that are currently exempt – with private healthcare and financial services said to be in the firing line.

Putting VAT on private healthcare could raise £2bn for the Treasury, but would hit up to 8m middle-class families.

Photograph: Daily Mail

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has been doing the morning interview round. Normally ministers do not comment on budget matters. But Streeting could not have been clearer when he was on BBC Breakfast this morning. The presenter, Jon Kay, said he did not expect Streeting to comment directly on the story, but asked if he would say anything about the principle of taxing private healthcare. Streeting replied:

I’m going to shock you. It’s not happening.

Asked if he could guarantee that, Streeting said:

Yup. Not happening.

Streeting has been talking, among other things, about two big health-related announcements this morning.

Care workers in England are to receive a substantial pay increase from 2028 after the creation of a new body of trade unions and employers designed to stem the exodus of workers from the sector by improving wages and conditions. There are more details here in Jessica Elgot’s story.

NHS England is setting up what it calls an online hospital – NHS Online. It says: “The innovative new model of care will not have a physical site, instead digitally connecting patients to expert clinicians anywhere in England. The first patients will be able to use the service from 2027.” There are more details here.

I will post more from the Streeting interviews soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The conference opens. Speakers during the morning include Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, at 10am, Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, at 10.10am, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, at 10.20am, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, at 11.50am.

11.30am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, takes part in a Q&A event at a Centre for Social Justice fringe.

2pm: Keir Starmer delivers his speech to the conference.

4pm: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, takes part in a Sky Sports Q&A event at the fringe.

5pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, takes part in a Tony Blair Institute Q&A event at the fringe.

If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.

If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.

I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

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Starmer says 'NHS Online' for more virtual hospital appointments shows how Labour is delivering 'national renewal'

Keir Starmer is describing the plans for “NHS Online”, an online hospital for England, as an example of how the government is providing “national renewal”.

In his speech to the conference later, Starmer is expected to say:

A new chapter in the story of our NHS, harnessing the future, patients in control. Waiting times cut for every single person in this country. That’s national renewal, that’s a Britain built for all.

Labour says the “NHS Online” service is set to be rolled out from 2027, and that it will “deliver the equivalent of up to 8.5m appointments and assessments in its first three years”.

Starmer is expected to say:

In decades to come, I want people to look back on this moment as the moment we renewed the NHS for a new world.

In a briefing, Labour gives this explanation of how “NHS Online” will work.

The online hospital will be accessible through the NHS app – which is a central part of Labour’s drive to create an NHS fit for the future. That drive has seen an extra five million NHS appointments delivered since Labour came to office.

Patients will always have the choice between NHS Online and their local hospital. Those who opt in to the service will also access and track prescriptions, be referred for scans and tests, and receive clinical advice on managing their condition – all from the comfort of their own home.

If someone needs a physical test or a procedure these will be booked on the app at convenient locations close to their home or work - whether at a nearby hospital, surgical hub or Community Diagnostic Centre.

As NHS Online is rolled out, the initial focus will be on a small number of high-priority treatments that currently have the longest waits, and will expand over time to include further types of treatment.

And Labour also gives three examples of hospitals where online consultations have been a success.

University Hospital Southampton’s outpatient clinics were overwhelmed with follow-up appointments for patients with low-risk inflammatory bowel disease flare-ups. They developed a virtual follow-up pathway, enabling patients to access care remotely and initiate follow-up when needed, rather than being booked into routine slots. They used digital tools to monitor their symptoms and support decision-making. This led to a 73% reduction in consultant-led outpatient appointments, over 75% of patients managed virtually, and a 58% reduction in waiting times.

Moorfields Eye Hospital identified issues with long waits for referrals to be reviewed, causing anxiety and distress for patients waiting for care. They introduced a Single Point of Access for virtual triage across multiple providers with all referrals coming into a single shared system. Staff assessed each referral digitally to quickly decide what kind of care was needed and where it should happen, with patients prioritised if urgent, directed to the right clinic if routine, or promptly informed if a referral wasn’t appropriate. Referral processing time reduced from 11 hours to two, with 58% of urgent referrals safely downgraded to routine clinics.

At Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, a partnership with Medefer has enabled virtual triage of 99% of referrals within 48 hours. This model has allowed 79% of patients to be seen virtually and 82% to be discharged without requiring a face-to-face appointment, demonstrating how digital triage can manage high volumes safely and efficiently.

Wes Streeting rejects reports that Reeves will impose VAT on private healthcare in budget

Good morning. Keir Starmer is delivering his speech to the Labour conference later, and it is arguably the biggest personal fightback opportunity he will get this year. Pippa Crerar has written up the overnight briefing we got about the speech from Labour. But a conference speech is primarily just a rhetorical event; a budget is a fiscal event, and a policy event, and that is why the most important moment for Labour between now and the end of the year is the budget on 26 November.

Starmer will address delegates with the media already braced for big tax rises this autumn, prompted by what Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, told the conference yesterday. Some of the papers are focusing on the general likelihood of tax increases.

But one newspaper has a more specific claim. The Daily Mail says that the governent is considering putting VAT on private healthcare in the budget. It says:

And Whitehall sources told the Daily Mail that the Treasury was examining options for adding VAT to services that are currently exempt – with private healthcare and financial services said to be in the firing line.

Putting VAT on private healthcare could raise £2bn for the Treasury, but would hit up to 8m middle-class families.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has been doing the morning interview round. Normally ministers do not comment on budget matters. But Streeting could not have been clearer when he was on BBC Breakfast this morning. The presenter, Jon Kay, said he did not expect Streeting to comment directly on the story, but asked if he would say anything about the principle of taxing private healthcare. Streeting replied:

I’m going to shock you. It’s not happening.

Asked if he could guarantee that, Streeting said:

Yup. Not happening.

Streeting has been talking, among other things, about two big health-related announcements this morning.

Care workers in England are to receive a substantial pay increase from 2028 after the creation of a new body of trade unions and employers designed to stem the exodus of workers from the sector by improving wages and conditions. There are more details here in Jessica Elgot’s story.

NHS England is setting up what it calls an online hospital – NHS Online. It says: “The innovative new model of care will not have a physical site, instead digitally connecting patients to expert clinicians anywhere in England. The first patients will be able to use the service from 2027.” There are more details here.

I will post more from the Streeting interviews soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The conference opens. Speakers during the morning include Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, at 10am, Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, at 10.10am, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, at 10.20am, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, at 11.50am.

11.30am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, takes part in a Q&A event at a Centre for Social Justice fringe.

2pm: Keir Starmer delivers his speech to the conference.

4pm: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, takes part in a Sky Sports Q&A event at the fringe.

5pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, takes part in a Tony Blair Institute Q&A event at the fringe.

If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.

If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.

I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

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