Streeting attacks Nigel Farage as ‘miserablist declinist’

Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking during the Fabian Society annual conference in the Guildhall, London
Wes Streeting said that the Reform leader ‘pushed a ‘miserablist, declinist vision for Britain’s future’ - Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Wes Streeting has branded Nigel Farage as a “miserablist declinist” and claimed that reforming the NHS would save Labour from Reform.

The Health Secretary used a Fabian Society conference speech to warn his fellow “progressives” that the “populist Right is coming for us”.

Mr Streeting said that Mr Farage represented this populist threat and pushed a “miserablist, declinist vision for Britain’s future”.

In order to “take on their arguments to win the battle of ideas”, Mr Streeting argued that supporting the NHS could defeat the threat from the Right.

Mr Streeting’s argument focussed on Mr Farage’s suggestion that the health service, which may have caused 50,000 deaths due to delayed treatment last year, could move to the insurance-based model used in France in order to improve efficiency.

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The Health Secretary framed NHS performance as a battleground between Left and Right, saying: “The failure of our public service to meet the needs of the people is a fertiliser for the populism we see across liberal democracies.”

He said that the NHS needed improvement in order to remove “the conditions where the populist Right thrive”.

Nigel Farage
Mr Streeting said that Mr Farage represented a ‘populist threat’ - Paul Cooper

Mr Streeting was heckled by protesters as he began his speech in the City, during which he defended Labour’s record and vision for the future.

In a follow-up Q&A session with Lewis Goodall, Mr Streeting praised the Windrush Generation and, when asked if Britain is “structurally racist”, responded that it was “just objectively true”.

The politician did, however, repudiate “ideological-driven” diversity and inclusion initiatives which pushed “anti-whiteness” and, he argued, made DEI unpopular.

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The MP for Ilford North said that under Labour the UK would remain “light on the hill” for progressives as the US and Europe moved towards the Right, particularly following the election of Donald Trump.

Mr Streeting said that his Cabinet colleague Yvette Cooper stopped the “racist riots” which followed the murder of three children in Southport.

He also criticised those who had suggested that there was a cover-up of deals relating to the killings, and the murderer Axel Rudakubana.

Mr Streeting backed the Prime Minister, telling an audience at the Guildhall: “Let’s get stuck into 2025 with hope, optimism and confidence about Britain and its future.

“And let’s never forget how far we’ve come. People said Keir Starmer couldn’t win the Labour leadership and he did. They said he couldn’t change the Labour Party, and he did. They said he couldn’t win a general election. And he did.

“Now they say he can’t change our country, but he will. We’ve got a lot done, hell of a lot more to do. Change has only just begun. And the best is still to come.”