What I learned on a 'speed-date' with Labour health chief Wes Streeting

The country's likely next health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has refused to commit to abolish the two-child benefit limit that poverty campaigners say has driven the number of poor kids in Birmingham and the rest of the country to record levels.

"We are not lifting it," said Streeting categorically when he took BirminghamLive's questions ahead of General Election polling day, amid a growing clamour for a manifesto U-turn, including from local Labour MPs. He said it was 'not affordable' right now.

It was one of four issues BirminghamLive raised with the likely next boss of the NHS and social care services during a rapid-fire seven-minute interview ahead of General Election polling day. In a format akin to a speed dating set-up, we logged in to chat with Streeting from Labour HQ in London, where he made the case for voters to turn out for change.

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Among the things we learned in our brief encounter:

• The West Midlands 'will decide who governs Britain' because of high number of marginal seats in the region, particularly in the Black Country and edge of Birmingham. If the red wall is rebuilt here, it will mean a clear Labour victory

• There is no 'Labour magic wand' to fix hospitals, the NHS generally, social care and local government - so brace for more delays and pain

• A report setting out a plan for preparing for inevitable 'winter pressures' this year in hospitals and social care has already been commissioned ahead of the election

• Forget 'Things Can Only Get Better' - Streeting's election anthem is David Bowie's 'Changes'.

• A promise of 'no top down reorganisation' of the NHS but a commitment to take 'exceptional' best practice from some parts of the country and 'make the exceptional the ordinary'.

• A claim that NHS staff are behind him in 'crying out for change'

• No promise of more money for struggling Birmingham City Council but a pledge to roll out more devolutionary responsibilities and purchasing power to the regions

On Child Poverty

The two child benefit cap, introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, penalises poorer families with more than two children and has been described as 'cruel' and 'immoral' by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and 'a key cause of rising child poverty' by the Child Poverty Action Group. It has been universally condemned as a poverty marker by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Trussell Trust, Citizens Advice, Crisis and Barnardo's, among many, with research showing it has driven thousands more families into crisis since it came into force.

In some parts of Birmingham three in four children are growing up in impoverished households, with the worst affected areas concentrated in East Birmingham:

• Bordesley Green North - 74% of children in poverty

• Belchers Lane & Eastfield Road, Birmingham - 73%

• Washwood Heath, Birmingham - 73%

• Sparkhill North, Birmingham - 69%

• Balsall Heath East, Birmingham - 67%

• Sparkbrook South, Birmingham - 66%

• Small Heath Park, Birmingham - 65%

• Aston Park, Birmingham - 64%

• Sparkbrook North, Birmingham - 63%.

Many families affected have working parents who qualify for top-up child tax or Universal Credit payment because of low income. But since 2017 those payments have been calculated based on a maximum of two children. On not promising to scrap the limit, he said: "At this stage we are not lifting it. Every promise that went into our Manifesto had to be a promise we could keep and be 100% certain we could afford.

"We opposed it (the two child limit) when it came in...and one of the reasons we want to get growth into the economy is that if it grows under this Labour government at the rate it did under the last one there will be tens of billions of pounds more to either invest in public services or put back into people's pockets without having to clobber people with higher taxes." He insisted: "We are ambitious on child poverty."

But there is no guarantee any resulting largesse would be used for this specific issue, with the Labour leadership resisting calls to set out its future spending plans. Said Streeting: "We are going to produce a cross government Child Poverty Strategy once in Government. We have a strong record on this. The last Labour government lifted a million kids out of poverty. As someone who grew up experiencing child poverty it is very close to my heart, as it is to Keir (Starmer), Bridget (Phillipson), Angela (Rayner) who also experienced poverty and hardship growing up.

"Some of the policies in our manifesto would help us to make a real difference quickly. Primary school breakfast clubs will help children start the day with hungry minds, not hungry bellies. Making sure we insulate millions of homes with good quality insulation will help reduce fuel poverty. Our new deal for working people, like improving wages and banning exploitative zero hours contracts, would make a real difference to people, as would a ban on no-fault evictions. We also have an ambitious plan to get 1.5 million more homes built to cut rents and make homes more affordable."

ON HOSPITAL CARE and the NHS

Cutting NHS waiting times is one of Labour's six 'first steps for change' outlined in its manifesto, with the help of the private sector. It intends to deliver 40,000 more appointments every week to cut waiting lists, double the number of scanners to diagnose earlier and treat faster, mental health support in every school, mental health hubs in every community and 8,500 extra mental health workers to cut mental health waiting lists. That's on top of 700,000 emergency dentistry appointments, and training up more GPs.

"People want honesty for us. We are not going to be able to wave a Labour magic wand and people know it is going to take time to fix the NHS and social care," said Mr Streeting.

"For this winter I have asked ahead of election that there is a plan waiting for me on plans; it is not going to be an easy winter, there will be risks and challenges...(but I want to see) year on year improvements so that by the end of the first term (by 2029) people can see an NHS that is finally back on its feet and can feel that change that a Labour government has delivered." He also pledged to create a National Care Service with an equal focus on social care provision and the work of carers.

On David Bowie's Changes

Streeting's election anthem is David Bowie's Changes, which he says he listens to every morning on the election trail as a motivational pick-me-up. Says Streeting: "It is a banger of course but it speaks to what is desperately needed in our country and particularly in our health service." No doubt he's thinking of Rishi Sunak when he sings along to the lyric: 'Where's your shame? You've left us up to our necks in it.'

On Voting

"The West Midlands will decide who governs Britain," said Streeting, alluding to the wave of 'marginal' seats across the region, concentrated in the Black Country particularly, that will have to go to Labour to secure overall victory. "You have a clear choice on Thursday - change with Labour or no change with the Conservatives, choose wisely, you only get change with Labour if you turn out and vote for it."