Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Joe Robertson
Main Page: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)Department Debates - View all Joe Robertson's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(1 day, 3 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Wes Streeting
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. More patients are waiting a year for treatment in Ayrshire and Arran than in the entire south-west of England—that is shocking. Thanks to the investment the Chancellor has made, Scotland is receiving an extra £1.5 billion this year and £3.4 billion next year—the biggest funding increase since devolution. Labour is cutting waiting lists in England. Labour is cutting waiting lists in Wales. Why is the SNP failing where Labour is succeeding?
Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)
The Secretary of State has failed to end industrial action like he said he would. How is that helping to reduce waiting lists?
Wes Streeting
Industrial action sets back our progress on waiting lists, but frankly, the Conservatives presided over an absolute mess—not just over the course of 14 years, when waiting lists rose every single year during the Conservatives’ time in power, but in their catastrophic mishandling of industrial relations. We came in, and we settled with the British Medical Association—[Interruption.]