Speeches by Streeting.

“So far, not least thanks to the way that Jim and Elizabeth O’Mahony, the chief financial officer of the NHS, have managed the system to keep costs under control this year, we have been able to absorb the pressures and costs of strikes without directly impacting on frontline services.”

“We are working with our colleagues at the Cabinet Office to address a whole number of issues from the Hughes report. Obviously, work on infected blood is now well under way, but we have other issues, particularly about the vaccine-injured community. There are a whole bunch of patient groups who have been failed by the …”

“I certainly do not need to be told what my responsibilities are on this. I always take responsibility for the decisions I take. I acknowledge the extent to which the hon. Gentleman and members of his party seek to weaponise this issue, and to personalise it. [Interruption.] We can simply refer back to his question and …”

“Yes, you are.”

“Two things. First, no child in this study is able to give consent and therefore be a participant in the trial and receive puberty blockers. In order to participate in a trial, a young person would need to give informed assent by repeating back to the clinician what the risks are and why they would want to go through th…”

“I am not going to waste valuable time this morning relitigating what I have said very publicly and regularly on the BMA and my views on the timing of this industrial action, because they are well known. Jim, I and other senior NHS leaders met with the BMA yesterday morning—even at that late stage—to try and see off str…”

“A permanent ban on the prescription of these drugs outside a clinical trial. I have been challenged, because I have said, in both instances, that I was uncomfortable about the ban and I am uncomfortable about the clinical trial. Both those statements are true and consistent. When I put in place the permanent ban on pub…”

“They certainly can, and if they withdraw, they will still get the wider therapeutic support they deserve.”

“Joe, part of what Cass recommended and what will be undertaken is exactly that sort of research into people who are older and have undergone that kind of medical treatment or other sorts of support, from therapy through to other support from the NHS, to understand their outcomes. At the heart of the decisions I have ma…”

“I will try to do that, Madam Deputy Speaker. We will ensure that young people get good access to wider evidence-led support. I have had to wrestle with the fact that some trans people enter adulthood without ever receiving any sort of healthcare, and I have been heavily criticised by those people in particular for some…”

“Without getting ahead of ourselves, the intention is to make sure because, to be honest, the issues around racial inequalities and discrimination are actually quite endemic across the NHS. When you look at the experience of our black and Asian patients and staff, as I have said before, we have a widespread cultural pro…”

“As Health and Social Care Secretary, as a general principle, I follow clinical advice, and wherever possible I try to resist pressure—wherever it comes from and whatever the issue—to overrule clinicians who are better qualified than I am to make clinical judgments about the provision of health services. That is not to …”

“That is a great question. One of the areas that I think we can be really optimistic and excited about is the science that is taking place in this country, which is helping us to better understand dementia and conditions like Alzheimer’s and the brain more generally. I think we will see real breakthroughs over the next …”

“First, it is completely unacceptable that this strike has rumbled on for so long and this dispute has rumbled on for so long. As you say, it is the longest running in the NHS. I don’t think anyone has really covered themselves in glory in this dispute. When you look at the change that the trust was proposing to make ve…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question and for how he puts his criticism, too. As I said earlier, and for the avoidance of doubt, I know what my responsibilities are. I understand the decisions that I take in this office and that I am accountable for those decisions. I do not resile from that. I am following…”

“I thank the hon. Member for being helpful in two ways. First, it is always good to hear voices from the right making the case for vaccine uptake. That contrasts the Conservative party starkly with Reform UK, which we hear peddle anti-science nonsense. Secondly, I thank him for reminding resident doctors and the BMA of …”

“Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I just wanted to welcome the hon. Gentleman’s endorsement of vaccination. It is by far the most sensible thing he has ever said—that is a low bar, but he has cleared it, and I am very grateful to him. He might want to have a closer look at who his party platforms at…”

“rose—”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. Given that politicians are somewhere below traffic wardens and estate agents in terms of public popularity at the moment, it is quite an achievement for the BMA to have found itself even less popular with the public, but I think it has made very clear through its actions and…”

“Yes. The JCVI makes evidence-based recommendations, and we follow its evidence. With the best will in the world, we of course give out practical, common-sense advice, but we should not infantilise our constituents. They are perfectly capable of working out who can get together this Christmas. They really do not need Go…”