James Murray

I am going to make more progress. Alongside the removal of confusion and duplication at a national level, the Bill also gives those with local expertise the power, resources and flexibility they need to design and deliver health and care services for their area. The Bill will empower them to innovate, drive progress and do what is in the best interests of the patients they serve. Under the Bill, ICBs will have more direct responsibility for their services than ever before. They will be at the heart of integrating health and social care, and they will include those people responsible for housing, transport and jobs, so that we can tackle the root causes of ill health, which is better both for patients and for the NHS. The NHS gave me a second chance at life, and so as Health Secretary I will fight for the NHS every day with the strength it has given me back. The Tories ran down the NHS through 14 years of neglect, and the Lib Dems enabled them. Reform wants to abolish the NHS altogether and replace it with an insurance-based system. The Greens seem intent on ignoring clinical advice and have no practical solutions for the health service. Only Labour has a plan to get the NHS back on its feet. Only Labour is determined to both invest in and fundamentally transform the NHS for the future. Only Labour is showing that change is possible. We promised to cut waiting lists—we delivered the biggest annual fall in 16 years. We promised an extra 1,000 GPs in our first year—we delivered twice that number. We promised 8,500 more mental health staff by 2029—we have delivered them three years early. We promised 700,000 more NHS dentistry appointments—we have delivered an extra 1.8 million already. We promised to transform the NHS for the future, and that is what this Bill will do. We are already boosting investment in the NHS where it needs more. We have begun stripping out bureaucracy from the NHS where it needs less. And now we will build a truly modern NHS that will be there for generations to come. The Bill is the next crucial step in our mission, and I commend it to the House.