Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said obesity-curbing injections will be ‘available not just to some but to all’ as part of a new ‘industrial revolution’ set to transform society
Wes Streeting has vowed to unlock fat jabs for millions of Brits on the NHS – and joked half the country’s MPs are on them. The Health Secretary said the injections were part of a new “industrial revolution” that would transform society.
He pledged to “finally defeat obesity” with them and compared the advent of Wegovy and Mourjarno to a “new industrial revolution”. But the politician warned that poorer people risked missing out.
He promised to make it his “historic duty” to guarantee jabs “are available not just to some but to all”. Mr Streeting said: “The wealthy talk about how they’ve transformed their health, their confidence, their quality of life.
“But what about the millions who can’t afford them? That is a return to the days when health was determined by wealth. Never again”.
The Health Secretary also joked how many MPs were taking weight-loss jabs – but insisted he was not among them. He said: “Half the House of Commons tea room talk about the impact they’ve had – not in my case”.
Mr Streeting also launched a scathing attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and branded him a “con artist”. The Health Secretary said Mr Farage’s vision for healthcare would replace the NHS with an American style insurance system and warned it would “check your pockets before your pulse”.
He also called Farage a “snake oil salesman of British politics” in a defiant speech which drew numerous standing ovations. Mr Streeting took aim at the party for platforming a discredited doctor at their conference who claimed the Covid vaccine gave the royal family cancer.
He said: “We must win another fight too, one against the poison of post-truth politics. “At Reform’s conference, a discredited doctor claimed that the Covid vaccine gave our royal family cancer.
“This man wasn’t just some fringe figure – he’s Reform’s health adviser. And these anti-vax lies have consequences: they’ve led to the return of diseases we thought we defeated – measles, whooping cough, children dying from preventable illness in this the 21st century.
“When Farage was asked whether he’d side with medical scientists, he said, ‘I wouldn’t side with anybody’ – anti-science, anti-reason, anti-health. Nigel Farage is a snake-oil salesman of British politics, and it’s time to stop buying what he’s selling.”
During the 20 minute speech he told the public they couldn’t trust Farage with their health after he declined to take a side on whether paracetamol had links to autism. He also blasted Reform’s immigration policies and warned they could remove health workers who had dedicated decades of service to the NHS.
In a defiant message, he said: “Farage says: go home. We say: you are home. I’ve got your back. We’ve got your back.” The Health Secretary also said modernising the NHS was essential because science is changing healthcare so quickly.
He said: “My ambition isn’t just to recover the NHS, but to rebuild it to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
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