Irene Campbell
Main Page: Irene Campbell (Labour - North Ayrshire and Arran)Department Debates - View all Irene Campbell's debates with the Cabinet Office
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
Commons ChamberThe hon. Lady seems to want more delivery stats, so let me help her out. As my right hon. Friend, the Minister without Portfolio, said, we have had the highest growth of any G7 economy in the first quarter of this year, cuts in interest rates and an expansion of the warm home discount, which will mean that 6 million households will benefit from better insulated houses. I do not claim, in reading out these statistics, that everything is perfect—far from it—but I do believe that we have had change in the past year: change in the investment pattern of the country; change in real wages; and change in our trading position. That is change well worth having.
For too long, residents and frontline workers have had to navigate fragmented and underfunded services, and have had to arm up for battle when using public services. From our Best Start strategy to new neighbourhood health centres, we are reforming public services, so that money is invested in prevention, services are designed with and for local communities, and people always come first.
Does the Minister agree that, while waiting lists in England are falling thanks to billions of pounds of investment into our national health service, it is an absolute disgrace that, despite record levels of money being provided to the Scottish Government, waiting lists in Scotland continue to rise?
As my hon. Friend has set out, since Labour came to power, we have seen waiting lists continue to fall, with our 2 million new appointments, but the Scottish people have not seen the same benefits. Luckily, though, they do not need to wait long to vote for a Labour Government with a plan to change that.