NHS England abolished by Starmer in ruthless reforms

Sir Keir Starmer has abolished NHS England to bring the health service back into government control in an attempt to cut bureaucracy and save money.

- KATE DEVLIN ARCHIE MITCHELL MILLIE COOKE

In a surprise move, the leader of the party which founded the NHS announced he would abolish the independent quango which has run the health service for more than a decade, cutting up to 10,000 jobs.

Ministers said the plans would help deliver savings of hundreds of millions of pounds every year, which would be used to cut waiting times by slashing red tape to help speed up improvements in the health service.

The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the move with a sliver of caution, as her party warned Labour that it had to deliver, while health bodies and unions said another reorganisation of the NHS risked diverting “time and energy” away from improving care for patients.

However, former Tory health minister James Bethell tweeted: “I wish we’d had the guts to do this.”

The dramatic move comes just days after an exodus of people at the top of NHS England, including the resignation of its chief executive and medical director.

Announcing the reform during a speech in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, Sir Keir pledged to go further and “cut bureaucracy across the state, focus government on the priorities of working people [and] shift money to the front line”.

He said scrapping NHS England would “put the NHS back at the heart of government where it belongs, freeing it to focus on patients, less bureaucracy, with more money for nurses. An NHS refocused on cutting waiting times at your hospital”.

And he added that it was far from the only “tough choice” he would make, promising: “In this era, they will keep on coming.”