Starmer pledges to fight for NHS ‘day and night’ as PM says health service is ‘cornerstone of Britain’
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Speaking with rolled up sleeves in front of a raft of NHS workers, the PM unveiled more detail about his plans for slashing waiting lists plaguing the health service. Rebuilding the NHS is the cornerstone of rebuilding Britain, the prime minister said, as he pledged to fight for the health service “day and night”.
![[The prime minister said the NHS must treat patients more quickly]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/06/12/Britain_Politics_97828.jpg)
Giving a speech at a hospital in Surrey on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer unveiled more detail about his plans for slashing NHS waiting lists, with the aim of slashing the number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment in England by nearly half a million over the next year.
Speaking with rolled up sleeves in front of a raft of frontline NHS workers and health secretary Wes Streeting, the prime minister promised to reform the health service from “top to bottom”. He said 2025 “is about rebuilding Britain and rebuilding our NHS is the cornerstone of that”.
“We will, of course, protect the principles we all cherish – that you will work to every day – care free at the point of use, treatment according to need, key principles. “But to catapult the service into the future, we need an NHS that is reformed from top to bottom, millions of extra appointments signed, sealed and delivered with the plan that we are launching here today: national renewal in action.”.
Sir Keir said the NHS must be “hungry for innovation” but reiterated his belief that the health service cannot become a “national money pit”. He said: “Working people can’t be expected to subsidise the current levels of care with ever-rising taxes. That is the price of ducking reform, and I won’t stand for it.
