Labour under pressure over housing and waiting lists targets as Starmer prepares to unveil new ‘plan for change’
Good morning. Keir Starmer is giving a speech on Thursday and you can tell that it is important because No 10 started briefing on what it is going to say in a news release to journalists sent out on Friday. He is going to announce a “plan for change” that will include “measurable milestones”. In the earlier briefing Keir Starmer said it would be “the most ambitious yet honest programme for government in a generation”.
But hang on – hasn’t Starmer announced plenty of “measurable milestones” already? In 2023 he announced five missions, which he said were not just conventional performance targets but part of an attempt to make government more strategic and focused on the long term. The five headline missions all included sub-missions, so arguably there were around 26 targets or pledges in the document. Then, as the election approached, Labour simplified matter by announcing six first steps for change.
The new milestones will build on what the missions set out. No one is saying the five missions have been junked. But, by announcing new priorities, it is hard to avoid the conclusions that the old ones are being at best downgraded, and so it is not surprising that this is being seen as a relaunch. Politico this morning is describing it sarcastically as the “definitely-not-a-reset speech”.
In an interview yesterday Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, revealed that one of the new milestones will be to increase the number of who are deemed educationally and socially ready when they start primary school from 60%, the current figure, to 75%. It is being reported that another milestone will be for the NHS to reach its target of getting the number of patients who get their operation within 18 weeks up to at least 92% – a goal that has not been reached for years.
But today, in their Times splash, Chris Smyth and Oliver Wright say NHS leaders are concerned about the impact of prioritising cutting waiting lists above all else. They say:
Health bosses accept the need to focus on the government’s political priority but say ministers will need to accept trade-offs to achieve it. “If the priority is putting all the money into electives, what we will see is warzone A&E departments and all sorts of other things being sidelined,” said an NHS source. “It will have a number of casualties, including mental health, community care and waits in A&E.”
The pre-election missions also included plans to build 1.5m new homes – a target reaffirmed by the housing minister only last month. In July Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, announced new housing targets for local authorities in England designed to ensure this target is reached.
But this pledge is also looking problematic. The BBC has published the results of an investigation showing that many councils, including Labour-run authorities, believe the new Rayner targets are unrealistic. In their report Alex Forsyth, Jack Fenwick and Hannah Capella explain:
Local councils have told the government its flagship plan to build 1.5m new homes in England over the next five years is “unrealistic” and “impossible to achieve”, the BBC can reveal.
The vast majority of councils expressed concern about the plan in a consultation exercise carried out by Angela Rayner’s housing department earlier this year.
The responses, obtained by the BBC through Freedom of Information laws, potentially set local authorities on a collision course with Labour over one of its top priorities.
The report quotes many examples of what councils have said in response to the consulation.
Labour-run Broxtowe council in Nottinghamshire described the proposed changes as “very challenging, if not impossible to achieve”.
South Tyneside, another Labour-run council, said the plans were “wholly unrealistic”, while the independent-run council in Central Bedfordshire, said the area would be left “absolutely swamped with growth that the infrastructure just can not support”.
We will be hearing from Rayner later in the Commons, where she is due to take questions at 2.30pm.
Yesterday McFadden said migration, which was not included in the original five missions, will be in the plan for change document. We will be hearing from Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, on irregular migration later, because she is due to give a statement to MPs.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, makes a statement to MPs about irregular migration, and the government’s deal with Iraq covering people smuggling.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line 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. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X but individual Guardian journalists are there, I have 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.