Building an NHS Fit for the Future

James Murray Excerpts

Monday 13th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Paula Barker).

Let me begin by paying tribute to His Majesty the King on the occasion of his first Gracious Speech as our sovereign. Let me also take this opportunity to put on record how proud and glad I was to spend yesterday with my local community in Greenford, laying a wreath at the Greenford war memorial, coming together at the Royal British Legion club, and celebrating Diwali at Shree Jalaram Mandir.

I turn now to what was in and, just as importantly, what was lacking from the King’s Speech. It is astonishing that the Government announced new legislation on energy and yet their Energy Secretary was immediately forced to admit that the new laws would not take a penny off people’s bills. It is deeply frustrating, although sadly unsurprising, that the Government have announced legislation on housing that walks away yet again from unfulfilled promises that they have made time and again to leaseholders and private renters. It is a sign of how tired this Government are that there was nothing in the King’s Speech about a plan for economic growth to make people across the country better off, or the planning reform that we need to get Britain building. In short, this King’s Speech shows that the Conservatives are incapable of delivering the change that even the Prime Minister concedes our country needs.

People and businesses in my constituency, like others across Britain, have been paying the price of the Government’s failure on energy for the past 13 years. The Government’s failure meant that the energy crisis hit people in Britain harder than those in any other western European country. People are right to ask what on earth the Government were doing over the past 13 years to allow us to get into this mess. At the very least, people might have expected the energy crisis to serve as a wake-up call for Ministers, but the Government’s flagship energy policy in the King’s Speech shows no sign of their waking up. In fact, it shows just how tired and out of touch Ministers are that they appear to have simply given up trying to bring down energy bills for British families, and are happy to admit that. That is why Labour’s plan is so important to making Britain energy independent, to investing in British industry and to cutting bills for families.

Energy bills are far from the only pressure on household budgets. As the cost of living crisis continues to hit families across the country, the housing crisis that has also been growing under the Conservatives is getting worse and worse. Homeowners with mortgages are being hit by the Tory mortgage penalty. Private renters face relentlessly rising rents as they struggle to get on the housing ladder and live in perpetual insecurity. Families in social housing that does not meet their needs often have no choice other than to wait for years on end. And yet the King’s Speech offers nothing to truly get a grip on the housing crisis. The only legislation that it includes on housing represents yet more walking away from some of the promises the Government have repeatedly made and delayed.

We know that the Government have been dragging their feet for years over reforming the private rented sector. We finally have the Renters (Reform) Bill before us, but I will believe that it will become an Act under this Government only when I see it gain Royal Assent. Despite the Bill having come forward, we have already learned that the implementation of much-needed changes is to be delayed even longer. The Government are kicking the ban on no-fault evictions into the long grass yet again, despite tens of thousands of households being evicted and threatened with homelessness as Ministers dither.

Meanwhile, the legislation that the Government have announced for leaseholders would apply only to new homes, and there is nothing to roll out commonhold for new flats. Their plans fall woefully short of the fundamental and comprehensive reform that Britain’s feudal leasehold system needs. We know that that change will only come from Labour, as we have committed to enacting the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, commonhold and the right to manage in full. More widely, there was no sign in the King’s Speech of any wider ambitious plan to do what is necessary to reform the planning system or to begin to fix the housing crisis.

Just as there was no plan to fix the housing crisis, there was no plan for economic growth. The economy is just not working under the Conservatives. Figures published on Friday confirm that the UK economy failed to grow at all between July and September, yet there was no change from the Government in the King’s Speech last week. There was no attempt to draw a line under the economic failure and decline of the last 13 years and set out a serious plan for growth.

We know that economic failure and stagnant growth have a direct impact on people’s lives, leaving working people worse off. We know that, faced with low growth, the Government have increased taxes 25 times in this Parliament alone, leaving British people and businesses paying the price. As if that were not enough, we know that working people are still paying the price of the Conservatives’ disastrous mini-Budget last year.

That is why Labour has a plan to replace 13 years of national decline with a decade of national renewal. Our plan has economic responsibility as its foundation, and under our plan, the Government will work with businesses to grow the economy and make working people in all parts of the country better off. As Members of Parliament, we are here to serve, and making life better for people across Britain is what Labour’s plan—our alternative to the King’s Speech—would set out to achieve.

NHS Workforce

James Murray Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op)]

There can be no doubt that the NHS is in crisis. We have heard shocking stories today from hon. Members about what their constituents are having to endure. Each and every one of these deeply distressing stories helps to confirm the devastating impact of the Conservatives’ neglect of the NHS. Patients deserve so much better than this Government and everyone who works in the NHS deserves so much better, too, for the invaluable work they do.

We all know that from the experience we have in our constituencies, as we have heard so powerfully today. My hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Ms Brown) spoke powerfully and in detail about the impact of vacancies in the NHS, particularly in maternity services, in her constituency and the surrounding areas. My hon. Friend the Member for Coventry North West (Taiwo Owatemi) spoke about the role of community pharmacists and the wider struggles that NHS workers face. She was speaking with particular authority, given her background in the NHS before becoming an MP. My hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Sam Tarry) spoke about the severe impact of vacancies and exhaustion in nursing after 12 years of the Conservatives.

My hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy) spoke about the impact that workforce shortages were having, even before the pandemic, on crucial radiotherapy services in her constituency and beyond. My hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Bell Ribeiro-Addy) spoke about the scale of the crisis that we face in NHS recruitment and retention. My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) rightly mentioned those shameful attacks by Conservative Ministers on nurses.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) spoke with great experience, having spent three decades working in the NHS, about the growing crisis of retention over the past decade. My hon. Friend the Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) spoke about the NHS crisis and set it in the context of the Government’s unfair decision in the recent autumn statement. My hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch) gave a wide-ranging and powerful speech that drew attention to the genuine sense of fear among people across the country at the prospect of not being able to access vital NHS services. My hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Margaret Greenwood) made it clear that the staffing crisis in the NHS is the failure of 12 years of the Conservatives.

Madam Deputy Speaker, that is the truth. The Conservatives have spent 12 years running down the NHS and letting our economy fall further and further behind, but, make no mistake, this is not inevitable. After 1997, Labour not only grew the economy 1.5 times the rate that the Conservatives subsequently managed, but delivered an NHS to be proud of, and we are proud of our record.

Although the challenges now are even greater than they were in the late ‘90s, if we take office at the next election, we will, again, deliver a modern, sustainable NHS that is fit for the future that we face. We know that, to make the NHS fit for the future, it needs a prescription of reform and sustainable funding from a growing economy. For our economy to grow, we need to start getting our public services back on track, too. As my hon. Friend the shadow Health Secretary set out, one of the first steps that a new Labour Government will take to get the NHS back on track is to deliver a workforce plan that addresses the root cause of the crisis it is in.

Under our plan, we would double the number of medical school places to 15,000 a year. We would double the number of district nurses qualifying each year. We would train 5,000 new health visitors a year and we would create 10,000 more nursing and midwifery clinical placements each year, too—all part of a long-term workforce plan for our NHS.

[Steve Brine]

On the doubling of the number of medical school places, can the hon. Gentleman tell me what the cost of that is, especially as the shadow Chancellor is so handily sitting next to him? It would be helpful for those of us on the Select Committee to put the price tag on that one.

[James Murray]

All the pledges that the Opposition make are fully costed and fully funded. [Interruption.] If the hon. Gentleman waits one second, I will address that point. Today is about political choices. It is not just a political choice of whether we invest in the NHS; it is a political choice of how we pay for it. That is why we have made it clear that, to pay for our NHS workforce expansion plan, Labour would abolish the unfair, outdated non-dom tax status. Non-dom tax status is passed down through people’s fathers and it costs the public purse £3.2 billion a year, while failing to support economic growth in the UK. Under the current arrangements, a small group of high-income people who live in the UK are able to avoid paying tax on their overseas income for up to 15 years. We would abolish that 200-year-old tax loophole and introduce a modern scheme for people who are genuinely living in the UK for short periods. We believe that if a person makes Britain their home, they should pay their taxes here.

[Paul Bristow]

My hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine) asked the hon. Gentleman a very specific question about the exact cost of doubling the number of places at medical school. Is the hon. Gentleman able to confirm the exact cost of that—not the non-dom cost, but the exact cost of doubling the number of medical places?

[James Murray]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I have set out that scrapping the non-dom status would raise £3.2 billion, and that our workforce expansion plan would cost £1.6 billion, so we would be well able to afford that measure from the amount of money that we have raised from scrapping this outdated, unfair tax loophole.

Non-dom status should have no place in our modern tax system. It is unfair. When the Government are making working people pay more tax, it is simply wrong to allow wealthy people with overseas income to continue to benefit from an outdated tax break. It is also bad for UK business: the loophole prevents non-doms from being able to invest their foreign income in the UK, as bringing it here means it becomes liable for UK tax. Abolishing non-dom status would end that barrier to UK investment—and, as I have said, raise £3.2 billion, money we would use to put towards priorities including expanding the NHS workforce.

To be honest, we would have thought abolishing non-dom status, replacing it with a modern system and using the money to strengthen the NHS and economy would be a no-brainer. What is it about this Conservative Government, led by the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak), that makes them so reluctant to close that loophole? Last week, during the rushed debates on the Government’s autumn Finance Bill, I asked Treasury Ministers to confirm whether the Prime Minister had been consulted on the option of abolishing non-dom status and whether it was ever considered as an option for last week’s Finance bill. I also asked whether, when the current Prime Minister was Chancellor, he had ever recused himself from discussions on the matter, for obvious reasons.

I put these questions to Treasury Ministers on three separate occasions last week, but they refused each time even to acknowledge the questions, never mind answer them. For a Minister to overlook a set of questions once might be an oversight, but to ignore them three times looks like something else. Perhaps the Minister will today show that they have nothing to hide by answering the questions I have raised.

In the autumn statement and last week’s Finance Bill, the Chancellor chose to leave non-dom status untouched, while picking the pockets of working people, including nurses, with stealth taxes such as freezing income tax thresholds and pushing up council tax. Today, the Secretary of State for Health only mounted a brief defence of non-dom status; I wonder whether his colleague from the Treasury will, in her closing remarks, repeat some of the defences that Treasury Ministers tried to set out last week.

Last week, Ministers tied themselves in knots trying to find a justification for the £3.2 billion tax break for non-doms. They tried to pretend that the Government's investment relief is working, when only 1% of non-doms invest their overseas income in the UK in any given year, and last week they tried to win praise for ending permanent non-dom status, while keeping quiet about the new loophole they created, which allows people to use trusts to retain non-dom benefits permanently.

The truth is that, unless the Conservatives vote with us today to abolish non-dom status once and for all, the British people will be clear that no amount of reason or common sense will get this Government to come round. The British people need a fresh start and a new Labour Government that would take those fairer choices on tax to support the stronger NHS we so desperately need.

The NHS is an achievement we share together as a country and one that we all have a personal relationship with. We all want to know that when we have medical symptoms, concerns or needs, the NHS will be there for us. We want to know it will be there as a publicly funded service, free at the point of use, able to provide us with the high-quality help we need. That is what I wanted to know in my early 20s, when I started to notice symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as myasthenia gravis, a rare neurological condition that caused muscle weakness throughout my body.

After the best care I could have hoped for from my brilliant consultant and his team and colleagues at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, I have been symptom-free for many years now, but the memory of first feeling those symptoms and then finding my way towards the right treatment sticks with me. I would never want anyone to feel symptoms like mine and not be sure whether the NHS would be there to help.

We all know stories like that. We all need the NHS to diagnose and treat us when we are worried. We all need to be able to turn to the NHS so that we get that treatment in good time. We all connect with the NHS through our own lives and the lives of our family and friends. That is why the NHS matters so much to us all and why we are so determined to deal with the crisis the NHS is facing and to make sure it is ready for the modern challenges we face.

At the heart of our vision for the country are stronger public services and stronger economic growth. We know that getting public services back on track will support a growing economy, which will in turn support modern, sustainable public services. Before us today we have a chance to end the unfair 200-year-old tax loophole, which lets a small number of people avoid tax on overseas income, and use the money saved to fund one of the biggest workforce expansion plans in the history of the NHS. That is the choice in front of us today, and I urge all MPs to do the right thing by backing our plan.

Royal Assent

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent Act 1967, that His Majesty has signified his Royal Assent to the following Acts:

Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022

Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022

Counsellors of State Act 2022

Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2022

Children’s Mental Health

James Murray Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op)]

On 10 February 2020, when I had been an MP for less than two months, I was glad to be invited to a youth-led mental health summit at William Perkin Church of England High School, in the heart of my constituency, organised by the brilliant Ealing Citizens. On that Monday morning, I listened to young people in their late teens talk about their and their friends’ mental health. Not only was their openness inspiring, but they spoke with great intelligence about what support and help they needed from their school and the NHS. When they asked me to contribute to the discussion, I said that, when I was their age, about two decades previously, I could not have imagined talking with such clarity and honesty about mental health. I said I did not think that, 20 years ago, I even understood my own mental health; I certainly never considered sharing my thoughts openly with dozens of my peers.

I promised the young people I met that day that I would make their mental health and that of other young people I represent one of my priorities as their MP. That day, we were not to know that the following month we would go into the first covid lockdown. As we have all gone through lockdowns and restrictions, the importance of mental health for the young people I represent has become even more acute. One of the things the young people at the summit told me was that they wanted a mental health worker at their school whom they could talk to about their mental health, so I arranged a meeting with the Health Minister at the time. The Minister offered no extra support, but referred me to the local NHS. After a series of meetings with the NHS, I was glad when it was confirmed last summer that the NHS would, from September that year, put in place a dedicated mental health worker one day a week in every high school in Ealing North.

That represents important progress with limited resources, and I thank the local NHS for listening to the many of us who made the case for such a service, but when I have spoken to high schools about having a mental health worker one day a week, it has been clear that, although welcome, it comes nowhere near to meeting the level of need. The truth is that, without a Government who take this seriously and offer the support that is needed, we will never see the transformation that young people deserve. That is why we have committed that the next Labour Government will provide a full-time mental health professional in every secondary school. That is what young people told me in February 2020 that they want and need, and that is what we would make a reality as part of a package that would also include a part-time professional in every primary school, open-access mental health clubs for children and young people in every community, and a guarantee of mental health treatment within a month for all who need it. Our plans for mental health services would be funded by closing tax loopholes for private equity fund managers and removing the VAT exemption from private schools.

I know we need this transformational change because I was told so by young people themselves. As a new MP, I learned so much from that summit in February 2020. Since then, I have made it a priority to keep listening to young people in my constituency, making sure to visit schools whenever covid restrictions have allowed. I was glad to visit Northolt High School and Alec Reed Academy recently. As ever, I am very grateful to students and teachers for sharing with me their time and their views on mental health. As I was in the mental health summit before the pandemic, I have been informed and inspired by listening to young people talk about their mental health and what support they need. A number of the young people I have met have explained their own techniques for looking after their mental health. From their talking about the subject, I and their fellow pupils have learned something, showing the simple but crucial effectiveness of people talking about mental health, understanding how they can help to look after themselves, and having support there when they need it.

Now is the time for us as MPs not just to listen to young people, but to act. Young people need us to do the right thing and put in place the high-quality mental health services they deserve.

Vaccine Roll-out

James Murray Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

That is a really important question. For the most part, even when there is an outbreak, a care home can offer vaccinations with its local primary care network to those residents who do not have covid. Of course, when this is done, very scrupulous infection control needs to be in place. For instance, many care homes have vaccinated in a garden hub to make sure that the vaccination is outside, which is, of course, so much safer if there is an ongoing outbreak. Sometimes, an outbreak in a care home is so significant that it has to wait, and that has happened in a couple of cases, but all these decisions should be based on the local clinical advice of the GPs who are in the lead on the roll-out of the vaccination to care homes. I am really glad that this situation has been resolved in Biggleswade, and, of course, I am delighted at the new pharmacy-led vaccination centre in Biggleswade, which, as my hon. Friend said, is plugging a gap. He will have heard colleagues across the House praising the roll-out of the vaccinations in Bedfordshire.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

I thank the local NHS staff in my constituency for their hard work to vaccinate people. In the spirit of working together with them, I raised my concerns about the lack of vaccination sites, particularly around Greenford and Northolt in the northern part my borough, and they agreed with my suggestion that we ask Boots to consider opening a community pharmacy site at their Greenford Westway retail park store. I raised this plan with Boots, who were positive and helpful, and now we need support from NHS England. Will the Health Secretary please ask NHS England to look urgently at lending its support for this plan, so that we can move forward without delay?

[Matt Hancock]

Let us see what we can do.

Covid-19 Update

James Murray Excerpts

Programme motion
Monday 19th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

We published further data late last week on exactly the question that the hon. Lady asks. We have the backward contact tracing in place that the hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) asked for—I apologise for not answering his question on that—and we have seen the evidence from that. The critical thing, though, is for us all to recognise that in places like Warrington and the surrounding area, where the number of cases is going up—and the number of cases among the over-60s is going up, which is particularly worrying—we do need to act, and to act together if at all possible.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

The October 2020 “World Economic Outlook” published by the International Monetary Fund clearly states that

“the short-term economic costs of lockdowns could be compensated by stronger medium-term growth, possibly leading to positive overall effects on the economy.”

The Government clearly disagree with the IMF’s assessment, but can the Secretary of State tell me whether he or his colleagues have carried out any analysis of the economic impact of a national circuit break?

[Matt Hancock]

Of course we look at all the impacts of all the policies, but we know that the more targeted a policy can be, both in terms of the measures and the geography, then the less disruption it will have. If the hon. Gentleman’s concern is with a national circuit break, that is not the policy of the Government; the policy of the Government is to have a localised approach. He might therefore want to have a word with his own Front Benchers.

Covid-19 Update

James Murray Excerpts

Monday 21st September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I am afraid I do agree. All councils, including Leeds City Council, should make it clear that if students have coronavirus symptoms—and we all know what they are: a new continuous cough, a temperature or a loss of taste and smell—they should come forward for a test. If they have symptoms of another illness—not coronavirus symptoms—they should not come forward for a test. We have set this out very clearly once again in the prioritisation document that we have published today, and I hope that everyone will follow it.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

Schools that become aware of a covid-19 case have been encouraged to take swift action and contact the dedicated advice service introduced by Public Health England. However, several primary school heads in my constituency have reported that the service appears to be overwhelmed, with significant delays in Public Health England getting back to schools with advice. Can the Secretary of State tell me what the average waiting time is between a school contacting Public Health England and its receiving the advice that it needs?

[Matt Hancock]

I do not have those figures, but I would be very happy to look into specific cases, because the speed of turnaround in the instance that the hon. Gentleman describes is very important.

Coronavirus

James Murray Excerpts

Tuesday 15th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I have looked very closely at the situation in Sweden, and the challenge is that Sweden brought in significant laws curtailing social activity and that the population in Sweden followed more closely more than in almost any other country in the world a lot of guidance that was not enforced by law. The case rate in Sweden was also higher than in other geographically comparable countries.

The conclusion I have come to is that the approach we are taking, where we look around the world, learn from similar countries and take action where necessary, is the best way to control the virus and protect the economy. The rule of six is designed to try to restrict the transmission where we see it happening most, which is in social circumstances, and to protect the economy as much as possible by keeping the economy open within those social constraints. We are constantly vigilant and we are looking around the world for other examples of where we might be able to make changes. As my hon. Friend knows, we have made changes to our approach as we have learned throughout this unprecedented pandemic.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

My constituent Rachel has an 11-year-old daughter who came down with covid symptoms on Sunday. All her family have spent days self-isolating and desperately trying to book a test. At one point, they were directed to Wales, which is a six-hour round trip. At the same time, Rachel has seen private tests for £140, and often much more, that seem to be easily available. Does the Health Secretary think that this disparity is acceptable?

[Matt Hancock]

We do not recommend any private tests that are not signed off and verified. Therefore we are providing as many tests as we possibly can with a growing capacity. If the hon. Gentleman writes to me with the details of that individual case, I will absolutely look into it and make sure that one of the hundreds of tests that are being done in Ealing today is available for his constituent.

Covid-19 Update

James Murray Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I can think of no better way in Lichfield than to get my hon. Friend out and about making that case—in a socially distanced way, of course. He is quite right. We have to get the message across, in the first instance to Members of this House, and I hope we are doing that today. We are also making clear in the communications around the process of getting a test that, if people do not have symptoms, they are not eligible. We are reviewing what more we might need to do, because we have to use our record testing capacity for the people who need it most.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

This morning, the Transport Secretary was unable to say what enforcement powers the Prime Minister’s new covid marshals will have and what their responsibilities will be. Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous), does the Secretary of State know what powers these marshals will have and what training they will have to undergo?

[Matt Hancock]

We are giving local authorities more enforcement powers—for instance, to be able to close venues should that be necessary on public health grounds. We will set out more details of the marshals shortly.

Covid-19

James Murray Excerpts

Tuesday 1st September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, absolutely. Stoke-on-Trent provides another example of a local action that worked. We did not have to go to a full lockdown, which I am very glad about. The combination of enhanced support from the national system plus assiduous work locally and the responsible and strong voice of the local MPs, including my hon. Friend, has meant that the cases are coming right down. I am very grateful to the people of Stoke-on-Trent for responding as positively as they did to what were challenging circumstances. At one moment, it looked like there might be a full-blown local lockdown, but that did not happen because Stoke-on-Trent got in there fast and acted.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

The Secretary of State mentioned the importance of local efforts in keeping infections down, so can he tell me what additional financial support the Government will now provide to support local test and trace efforts, specifically in those areas where the level of infection places them on the watch list or under lockdown?

[Matt Hancock]

We do enter into those sorts of discussions. Of course local councils have a statutory obligation as well, but what matters most is that the response is as effective as it can be. Thus far we have been able to ensure that councils have the support and the capability to be able to respond, but, with their statutory duties, it is absolutely at the top of their priority list to prevent a local outbreak as well.

Covid-19 Update

James Murray Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

We are providing funding for local support, but I just want to reiterate to those who are in Leicester right now and listening to this debate, that the furlough scheme is in existence and it works now in the same way that it has worked across the country.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

Ealing Council, which covers my constituency, is one of those concerned about receiving all the data it needs as quickly as it needs it for local outbreak plans to work as well as possible. Will the Secretary of State guarantee that full testing data will be shared with every local authority, GP and director of public health, and commit to there being no time lag between these tests being carried out and the data being shared?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, that data was made available last week to all councils, subject to a data protection agreement, which the vast majority have returned.