Wes Streeting to criticise Nigel Farage’s ‘miserabilist, declinist’ vision of Britain | Wes Streeting

Wes Streeting is to criticize Nigel Farage for pushing a “miserable, despatched” vision of Britain, arguing that it is time to start waging a battle of ideas against the depopulation of the right-wing.

In a speech on Saturday, the Health Secretary will say failures in public services were “people’s manure” because they generated cynicism about the ability of politics to change.

Will argue that repair NHS It will be crucial to see the threat of the “alternative candidates for Prime Minister at the next election”: Farage and the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch.

But he will also say that “delivery is not enough” and progressive politicians must “take their arguments with confidence and win the battle of ideas” in the most direct challenge to… Reform UK By Cabinet Minister since the Labor Party took power.

Streeting’s intervention comes at a big time for populists right after Donald Trump takes office in the White House this week and reform appears to be neck and neck at the polls exhaustion And the conservatives.

Some Labor strategists believe there is little point in Farage because he poses more than a pernicious threat to the Conservatives, eating into the vote share on the right.

However, many Labor posts, especially those who ranked Reform second last year, are uneasy about Labour’s approach of largely standing back and saving the political punches for the Conservatives.

Street, widely tipped as a potential future leader, will share his position firmly among those on the progressive left who believe Farage needs to be confronted rather than ignored.

“Farage’s core argument is: What was possible in the 20th century is not possible in the 21st. It is a dystopian, whitewashed vision of Britain’s future. People should not have to choose between a health service that treats them on time and the NHS free at the point of use. It is aspirational poverty for our country.” Business rejects him completely.”

In a speech at the Fabian Society likely to appeal to Labor members, Street will highlight previous comments by Badenoch and Farge, suggesting that the idea of ​​freedom to use the NHS at the point of use may be up for discussion.

Last year, Badenoch told The Times: “I don’t think we’re ready to change the principle of liberty at the point of use, and certainly not right away. If we want to fix things like that, I think we need to have a serious national conversation.”

Farage said in 2014 that the UK was “going to have to think about healthcare very differently… I think we’re going to have to move to an insurance-based healthcare system.” Earlier this month he said The Times: “We have to define a health care financing system that is more effective than the one we currently have, and at the same time affords those who cannot pay.”

“I can think of no more effective antidote to his misery at Farage, than to prove his accusers wrong and get world-class patient care again,” Streets will say, highlighting.

He will say the government will prove Farage and others right populist over the NHS.

“Cutting the longest wait times from 18 months To 18 weeks By the next election, it will mean achieving something the NHS has not done in a decade. It will require going further and faster than the last Labor government.

“And if we do, it will truly represent resistance against the status quo of managed decline. It will help us remake the case for progressive politics, changing the lives of working people in the face of popular cynicism. We can defeat Farage by circumventing the NHS.”

The Street will also challenge Farage’s arguments In favor of tax deductions for private health caresaying ordinary people “have been left by those who can afford to jump the waiting list and go to the private sector.”

“The irony is that Farage, who comes out on this sentiment, will promote a two-tiered health care system. Action kills it,” he says.

His criticism of Farage’s approach to the NHS and private healthcare suggests Labor is poised to tackle reform on its policies, which have been little examined for their position on “frozen” immigration and the take of asylum seekers crossing the Channel into France.