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Crossing now over to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who joins us now
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Good to see you this morning, Mr. Streeting. Good morning. And I just get your reaction to the markets
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because $10 trillion has been wiped off global stock market since last Wednesday
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We've just had some reaction from Beijing to that threat of additional 50% tariffs from President Donald Trump
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They say they will not bow to blackmail. And they say if the US insists on going its own way, China will fight to the end
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What's your reaction to the global stock markets and this escalating rhetoric
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this escalating trade war that we're experiencing and witnessing right now? Good morning. Well, a trade war isn't in anyone's interest
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And whether or not we are directly involved, we will be indirectly impacted
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And that's why the prime ministers thought to do three things. firstly is not only to make sure we're at the best end of the U.S. tariffs already announced
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but to make sure that we secure an economic partnership with the United States to further
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remove trade barriers. Secondly, to try and remove trade barriers with other countries
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other trading partners across Europe, around the world, so that Britain stands for free trade and
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open trade. And thirdly, to make sure we're providing support for British industry to support
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them against what are very challenging global headwinds now. Heard that we support the car
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industry, as well as some of the announcements may support UK life sciences. There's more to come on
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that one. We were hearing about this oven ready trade deal between the US and Britain last week
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that still hasn't materialised. Do we have a plan B? What are you going to be doing to supporting
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businesses in this country in the meantime? time. Well, I don't think we've ever
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over claimed in that way on a trade partnership with the United States but we are working really closely with our partners in the United States Of course America isn our only trading partner We got the European Union where we want to break down barriers to trade
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We've got the rest of the world where we want to make sure that the UK is engaged in what are some of the biggest emerging markets of the world
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which are way beyond our continent. So there's a lot going on on that front
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But as I say, this is a challenging global backdrop, no doubt about that
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And that's why the action and the leadership of Prime Minister's showing, not just abroad but here at home, is really important for British jobs and British industry
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OK, Ms Street, I can see that you're in a GP surgery as we speak
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That's because you're announcing 1,503 extra GPs have been hired. Where have these GPs come from and how are they being paid for
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well bizarrely when i came in i inherited this odd and bizarre situation where we had patients
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struggling to get a gp at the same time as qualified gps were struggling to find jobs
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so i said we put a thousand more gps onto the front line by the end of march we've cut through
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the red tape of one of the initiatives to recruit uh staff to gp practices cut through the red tape
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that stopped practices recruiting GPs. And we put in place the funding necessary to make sure that we could deliver
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And that funding is not just for this year, but for future years
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thanks to the decisions taken by the Chancellor. So I want to reassure GB news viewers on two fronts, really
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Firstly, is that we're keeping our promises and the NHS is on the road to recovery
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But secondly, to reassure people that I'm not for a moment pretending it's job done
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and the road ahead is still a long road to recovery. but I hope that with the announcement we're making today
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people can see things are beginning to move in the right direction and through the lack of complacency we're showing
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I hope people are reassured that we know there more to do and we will deliver You can fix the front door of the NHS You can bring back the family doctor which is what you talking about hoping to do
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That's what you're announcing today. If you don't crack down on migration
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if you look at the figures from the ONS, which I'm sure you're across, one in six new registrations in England
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are from overseas migrants. I mean, in some boroughs in London, over 40% of new registrations
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are from people who have arrived from abroad. And then you look at the ONS figures that say that the population is going to be up nearly 5 million by 2032
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I mean, how do you plan to deal with this? Yeah, so obviously we talk a lot about illegal migration to our country and some of the steps we've taken since the general election
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like the big deportation flights, are important to tackle that problem. What we tend to talk less about, and I think we should talk more about, is our over-reliance on overseas recruitment to plug skills shortages in lots of parts of our economy, including the NHS and our social care services
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and while I and many other people will be very grateful to people who come from overseas to work
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in our health and care services who make a contribution to our country I think we would
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all agree that net migration is far too high and we need to do much more to recruit and retain
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homegrown talent in our country and that is why I'll be taking steps with the home secretary to
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reduce our over-reliance on overseas recruitment. So what are you going to do to increase training
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and retain British doctors and British medical students? Because it's something like two-thirds of medics that qualified last year were from abroad
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Yeah, and we've got this bizarre situation where graduates from UK medical schools
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are competing on an equal basis with overseas applicants for the same jobs I think that is a crazy position for our country to be in And as we speak I am looking at the changes we need to make to put an end to that situation so that students who are going
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through UK medical schools, that they're the people whose training we've invested in as a
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country and they've invested in themselves to make sure that they get those jobs that are available
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in our national health service. And then more broadly, to make sure that we're with the education
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Secretary, delivering the skills and opportunities to recruit to a wide range of roles in our health
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and care services with homegrown talent to reduce our reliance on overseas workers. Because we all
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agree net migration is too high. In order to reduce that overaliance on overseas recruitment
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we've got to invest in the skills and opportunities of our own people. And that's what this government's
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committed to doing. Can I ask you about this UK First on the front page of many of the newspapers
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is this morning. The first baby born after a womb transplant here in the UK. What's your reaction to
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that story? I mean, this is an amazing scientific breakthrough and it will provide real hope to
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parents or aspiring parents, I should say, who may be given up on the idea they might ever be able to
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conceive and have their own child. Of course, there are other opportunities and options available
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like fostering and adoption, which are wonderful. But this is a really amazing scientific breakthrough
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And that's why this week, what the Prime Minister's announced in terms of the Health Data Research Service
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will be really important for making sure that our NHS is at the forefront of the revolution in life sciences and technology
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We want to see more of this innovation here in Britain, and we want to see it benefiting our National Health Service
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So really exciting. And actually, against all the challenges in the NHS
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this is one of the big opportunities for our country in terms of life sciences and medical
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technology which can not only deliver better care and groundbreaking new treatments
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Okay. Mr. Streeting, I'm afraid we're out of time with you at the top of the hour I'm afraid but
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thank you for your time
