Britain's opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will say the NHS needs to be overhauled. PA
Britain's opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will say the NHS needs to be overhauled. PA
Britain's opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will say the NHS needs to be overhauled. PA
Britain's opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will say the NHS needs to be overhauled. PA

Labour leader warns NHS ‘not sustainable’ without ‘fixing the fundamentals’


Neil Murphy
  • English
  • Arabic

Britain's main opposition leader is to warn that the National Health Service is “not sustainable” unless there are health reforms that “fix the fundamentals” and go beyond extra investment.

Sir Keir Starmer is due to give a speech in the east of England on Monday in which he will outline his vision for modernising the publicly funded healthcare system.

He is also set to announce health-related performance targets to be introduced if his Labour party forms the next Downing Street administration, and detail new policies he believes will help deliver on its commitment to “build an NHS fit for the future” – one of his so-called five missions for government.

In his speech, the opposition leader is set to tell the public that it is “not serious” to suggest that the NHS’s current issues can be fixed solely with more money.

His shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has previously warned that the NHS must “reform or die” after setting out plans to use private sector capacity as a short-term fix.

Sir Keir is expected to say: “The NHS is not sustainable unless we make serious, deep, long-term changes.

“Some people will tell you this is purely a question of money – and money is part of it – but you can’t look at the problems now and tell me it’s just about money. That’s not serious.”

In a signal that Sir Keir is preparing to emulate past Labour election campaigns by putting the NHS front and centre of his bid to be Britain’s next prime minister, he will tell members that the service their party established after the Second World War cannot be put on a pedestal.

“At the next election the NHS is on the line,” he will say, according to pre-briefed extracts of his speech.

“The Conservative Party that has brought it to its knees will put it in the ground.

“But mark my words, if all we do in the Labour Party is place the NHS on a pedestal and leave it there – that’s not good enough.

“We’ve got to fix the fundamentals, renew its purpose, make it fit for the future.”

He will emphasise his own family’s experience of both working and being cared for by the NHS while criticising the current state of the service, particularly when it comes to ambulance delays.

“The NHS has played an enormous role in my life. My mum was a nurse, proud to be a nurse, but she was also severely ill for most of her life,” he is expected to say.

“That diagnosis didn’t reckon with mum’s determination and courage but it also didn’t reckon with the NHS.

“Lots of people say they owe the NHS everything. I’m definitely one of them. But mum’s story isn’t special.

“Behind every single door in this country, there is a family who will have their own version. The NHS belongs to everyone.”

He will tell the audience that ambulance delays mean the “cruel lottery of who lives and who dies” has returned for the first time since the NHS’s inception.

“Ambulances – for heart attack and stroke victims – that don’t come in time, just think about that for a second,” he is preparing to say.

“Ambulances that don’t come. Can you – any of you – imagine losing someone in that way? I can’t, and I mean that in every sense: I can’t imagine it.

“It shouldn’t be possible in our country, but it is. A cruel lottery of who lives and who dies that the NHS was founded to stop. And until now, until this point, for 75 years – it has.”

Sir Keir’s other missions for his potential premiership are securing the highest sustained growth in the G7, making Britain a clean energy superpower, creating safer streets and breaking down barriers to opportunity.

It's up to you to go green

Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.

“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”

When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.

He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.

“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.

One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.  

The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.

Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.

But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Key products and UAE prices

iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229

iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649

iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
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Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.

2019 ASIAN CUP FINAL

Japan v Qatar
Friday, 6pm
Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Reading List

Practitioners of mindful eating recommend the following books to get you started:

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung

How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Mindful Diet by Dr Ruth Wolever

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Men’s wheelchair 200m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 27.14; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 27.81; 3. Rheed McCracken (AUS) 27.81.

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1987

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1921

1888

The alternatives

• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.

• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.

• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.

2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.

• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases -  but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.

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Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons

Four stars

Malcolm & Marie

Directed by: Sam Levinson

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Rating: 4/5

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
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RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES

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While you're here
Updated: May 20, 2023, 9:32 PM`