Oral Answers to Questions

Edward Argar Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

May I, through the Secretary of State, pass on my best wishes to the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton)? In front of the Health and Social Care Committee in January, NHS England’s then chief financial officer set out that pretty much all the additional funding to the NHS last year would be absorbed by pay rises, national insurance contributions and inflation. What proportion of the latest additional funding will be absorbed in the same way?

[Wes Streeting]

First, I just do not buy the argument that investing in our staff is somehow not investing in the NHS. Who on earth do the Opposition think provides the treatment, delivers the care, organises the clinics and delivers the services? Even in this great new world of technology, the NHS will always be a people-based service and I am proud that this is a Government who deliver for staff. We are also waging war on waste, and that is how we can deliver fair pay for staff and improve care for patients. If only the Conservatives had done that when they had the chance.

[Edward Argar]

The right hon. Gentleman could not answer that question, but hopefully we will get a more positive response to this one. I recently had the privilege of meeting Dr Susan Michaelis and her husband Tristan, who have set up the Lobular Moon Shot Project, which large numbers of Members of all parties across the House have backed. They are seeking £20 million over five years—a tiny sum in the context of the overall NHS budget—to research lobular breast cancer, which Susan is currently battling, to help improve outcomes. Her immediate ask is even simpler: it is for the Secretary of State to meet her in person to discuss the campaign and its aims. He is a decent man. Will he agree to do that?

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the shadow Secretary of State for his question and, even more importantly, I thank the amazing campaigners for what they are doing. This is probably the easiest question he is ever going to ask me. The answer is, of course, an emphatic yes.