Party Conferences 2025: Health in focus
The last month brought the annual rendition of party conferences and it wouldn’t be controversial to say that health took a back seat this year, in the wake of wide-spread political discourse on immigration, free speech and the war in the Middle East. This state of play is an indictment of how Reform UK, a party with five seats in Parliament, have been able to warp the political and media landscape in their interests; keeping the ball in their court as they lead some polls by over ten points.
This absence of health in political commentary can be encapsulated by Shadow Secretary of State for Health Stuart Andrew’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference. Andrew offered little in regard to policy alternatives but used his speech to hold a debate with four interested members in the health space, including a former swimmer, a former minister, a GP, and a think tank chief executive. The panel spoke on technological innovation, prevention, primary care prioritisation and social care reform respectively. Interestingly, the first three causes are positions championed by the Government in the 10-Year Health Plan, occupying all three of the symbolic shifts. Andrew also affirmed that the Conservatives were prepared to agree and work to form cross-party solutions with Labour, with his vision of a patient-centred and innovation-harnessing health service. In this sense, Andrew, at least from this speech and the content of his panel, would struggle to differentiate himself from a junior minister at the Department of Health and Social Care.
A more interesting insight from the Conference was a fringe event titled Realising the Potential of Life Sciences: How can the UK compete. As a member of the panel, Shaun Grady, Chair of AstraZeneca UK, took aim at the UK’s life sciences landscape, in particular, its aversion to the adoption of innovation. He said that the NICE threshold budget was out-dated and appalling, and other competitors both in Europe and across the world offer a better environment and incentives for innovative investment. Grady’s comments come amid a row between the Department of Health and Social Care and big pharma over drug prices. Recently, MSD, an American pharmaceuticals company, scrapped its investment in a £1bn expansion in London, citing that the UK government had undervalued life sciences investment for too long. With Lord Vallance, Science Minister, calling for ‘necessary’ price increases, and now reports confirming that Ministers are preparing increases, it seems like the big business may have got its way. No doubt Wes Streeting will be committed, especially given the constrained state of public finances, to not be held to ransom.
Elsewhere, in September, the Liberal Democrats passed a policy motion titled ‘Getting Emergency Care Back on Track’ which calls on the Government to end corridor care by the end of the parliament, fix the social care system, tackle staff shortages, and guarantee safer emergency services through more qualified clinicians and mental health crisis services. For the Liberal Democrats, social care is a dominant issue, with Helen Morgan, Health Spokesperson, saying that the Casey Commission being published in 2028 is far too late, an absence of leadership, and is the most important issue she would raise to the Prime Minister.
In Zack Polanski’s speech at the Green Party’s conference he promised to protect the NHS. Besides this, health featured little at their conference, with the only potential explanation for solving the NHS being found in a wealth tax to help fund better care. Critics, including the Labour Government, would argue that this would just be supplementing the status quo that has put the NHS into disarray in many areas of the UK. Further substance to their ‘eco-populist’ health ambitions will have to be seen. Reform UK, the leading party in the polls, have been laser-focused on issues away from health. In a similar capacity to the Greens, there are promises to fix the health service, with little policy substance to back it up from the conference. Nigel Farage has almost become synonymous with privatising the NHS; where this has gone from, in cases, a mere rumour to now being peddled by Labour ministers on social media and the Prime Minister in PMQs. Reform have tried to shut this down previously, including in a social media post released in April; but it would be no surprise to see this line repeated in the coming months ahead of the upcoming Senedd and Holyrood elections, in hopes to deter voters from Reform and the slippery slope that a change in the funding model could create.
At the Labour Party conference, Wes Streeting pushed this exact line again, warning against an insurance-based system and condemning the ‘post-truth’ politics and ‘con artist’ antics that are pushed by the right of politics and Farage. He also warned against Reform’s immigration stance which could see NHS workers deported even after decades of service. Rather, voters should vote for the successes of the current administration in line with the three shifts, ones that Streeting has unambiguously heralded; whether that is through AI innovation, which can be seen in recent announcements on breast cancer screening and smart glasses, or the extra emphasis and resourcing of community primary care services to drive prevention and early treatment.
With the 10-Year Health Plan growing more distant, emphasis has turned to delivery, and just last week, Streeting appointed a new special adviser, Matthew Hood OBE, to assist on this in the department’s delivery unit. The last month also saw a host of new announcements, including procurement shifting from ‘cost-first’ to ‘patient-first’, the publication of NHS trust league tables, GP appointments to be opened up to all hours of the day, and the announcement of NHS Online by the Prime Minister. The aim is to begin the action set out in the Plan and its three shifts, and deliver clear improvements. In this case, an overachievement in productivity to 2.7% is a strong sign for Streeting. Success in the health sector could be a potential saving grace for the Labour party, acting as a key vehicle in leveraging the success of a Labour Government in the upcoming devolved elections.
Elsewhere, Streeting took aim at the British Medical Association (BMA) again, who have resisted reforms and pay offers. He sharply warned that clinging to conservatism could turn the NHS into a ‘museum’. Earlier in September, Streeting spoke at a meeting of the BMA asking for them to take an ‘olive branch’ and form a ‘partnership’ to save the NHS. Streeting has got a difficult task of juggling two seemingly competing forces, expansive innovation and a constrained workforce, and currently, accounting for both in the maximum seems unlikely. Inevitably, social care sits on the margins in the political space, but the announcement of a fair pay agreement, backed by £500m investment, could prove pivotal in solving workforce tensions and has been welcomed as a positive step forward by the sector. However, with a final report expected from the Casey Commission in 2028, it does not seem that social care will move at the speed and certainty that Streeting has commanded the health service to do so.
With political focus and attention elsewhere and opposition to his policy plans few and far between, the party conference season highlighted how Streeting has a clear mandate to deliver. His success in turning around the ‘broken’ NHS and social care system could be crucial to Labour’s future in Government. But, as some might argue, it may also be an opportunity for Streeting to prove himself to be a formidable replacement for the struggling Starmer.
