Government Political Priorities and Legislative Agenda

Baroness Nargund Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Nargund (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Hunt on securing this important debate, and on his excellent opening speech. On entering No. 10, our new Prime Minister said:

“Let’s make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again—the moment we bring back hope”.


That has been mentioned several times today. That spirit was clear in his commitment during the Recess to tackling social care through cross-party talks.

What is striking about this Government’s priorities is their willingness to confront Britain’s hardest problems head-on, placing the country first. Health now needs a similar approach. The manifesto commitment promising a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer, when we have the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions in our country, has never been more urgent. A child born in Richmond upon Thames can now expect nearly 20 more years in good health than one born in Hartlepool or Blackpool. A recent campaign by Health Equals has revealed a gap between postcodes of 18 years between the longest and shortest life expectancy in the UK.

The DHSC alone cannot close these gaps, and we should stop treating it as if it is the sole responsibility of the National Health Service. There is now an irrefutable case for a cross-governmental health board or a Cabinet sub-committee reporting directly to the Prime Minister, chaired by a senior Cabinet Minister and, crucially, with strong regional representation. Devolution offers a brilliant opportunity to deliver this in every region. The Health Bill now in the other place offers a genuine opportunity to put that understanding to work.

Health does not start in the NHS; it starts where we are born, where we live and where we work, and depends on whether we can access decent housing. That is why the Prime Minister’s pledge to end homelessness is so significant. Homelessness is not simply a housing failure; it is one of the starkest health inequalities we have. The Social Housing Bill, giving the tools to build more social homes locally, is not just an answer to our housing and homelessness crisis; it is a preventive health intervention.

I will leave noble Lords with one further thought: if the health of people in the north of England matched that of those in the rest of England, it could generate an additional £18.4 billion a year to the UK economy. This is not just a moral case; it is an economic one. Health needs to be at the heart of the Government’s priorities and central to their legislative agenda, giving power back to local communities and tackling the health disparities that hold our country back. That is why I back all these priorities wholeheartedly.

Labour created the NHS to care for our health; it is now Labour that can strengthen the NHS by tackling what creates ill health in the first place. Will the Government consider setting up a cross-governmental health board or a Cabinet sub-committee to address the wider determinants of health and to create a more equal Britain?

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness—