Hancock: Speech to Conservative Party Conference 2019

Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, speaking today at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, said:

“I’m not here today to make a normal conference speech.

I’m here to make one of the biggest announcements in the history of the NHS.

—

But first I want to say something about this Government and why we should support it.

We meet at a turbulent political moment.

And I believe we have a deep and solemn responsibility…

… to steer our beloved country through these troubled times.

I feel that responsibility more now than I ever have done in my lifetime.

Because ultimately, the next general election, whenever it comes, the choice will be between this Conservative Government and a Government led by Jeremy Corbyn.

There is no one else.

And the Corbynistas, they’re not the usual soft left who we’ve disagreed with in the past but who essentially believe in the fundamentals of what is good about Britain.

No; they peddle a dangerous ideology and are hell-bent on destroying everything that’s made this country great.

The Corbynistas - they abhor everything we believe in:

Security, freedom, even private property.

They would undermine every business, they’d undermine our economy, and so the source of the vital funding for public services that underpin our society.

We all have a duty and I feel this duty deeply and personally:

Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street?

We must never let it happen.

—-

And while I’m on the Labour Party, I want to mention my admiration for my friend the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson…

… both for what he puts up with, and also for how fantastic he looks and how much weight he’s lost.

In fact, I hear Labour’s ruling NEC committee are so supportive of his weight loss, they want to make him disappear altogether.

—-

And we must back this Government too because we believe in democracy.

We must deliver on the referendum result.

I profoundly believe that’s best done with a deal.

And we’re going all out to get one and get it through Parliament.

But it's right too that we prepare in the event we leave without a deal.

The country is crying out to move forward.

We must deliver Brexit…

… and this Government will get Brexit done.

—-

And for me the most important reason to back the Conservative Party is because of all the positive things we can achieve together.

We mustn’t ever just be the party of Brexit.

Deliver Brexit not defined by Brexit.

We’re the party of opportunity, and freedom, and public services too.

—

And of course the biggest and most loved public service is the NHS.

Now as you might have heard, I LOVE the NHS.

And I think the NHS embodies timeless Conservative values.

Patriotism - because we look out for each other in this country.

Global leadership - because in many ways it’s the finest health service in the world.

Public service - because so many people give so much, day in day out, to care for others.

These values are Conservative values; they are British values, and they are the values of the NHS.

—-

And I’m so proud that over the past year we’ve delivered:

Record investment in much needed mental health services.

The biggest increase in social care funding in a decade

Record numbers of GPs in training, doctors in hospitals and nurses on wards.

—

And I am so proud of what is to come.

No Health Secretary in history has had as much support in the first weeks of an administration than I have had from this Prime Minister.

Not just the 20 hospital upgrades, that he promised on the steps of Downing Street on his first day - and which we’ve already given the go-ahead to.

Not just the funding to bring the best technology and Artificial Intelligence in the world into the NHS.

But today, I can formally announce my Health Infrastructure Plan - the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.

___

If you’re sitting in a down-at-heel hospital like the Princess Alexandra in Harlow or the North Manchester General, where I was yesterday…

… and there’s not enough space to do the job properly and the roof is leaking.

Know this:

We won’t just fix the roof. We’re going to build you a whole new hospital.

—-

Over the next decade we will build, not ten, not twenty, but forty new state of the art hospitals.

In Leeds and Leicester, in Whipps Cross and Winchester, and in three dozen other towns and cities across the country.

Some, like the new Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge will be world-leading research hospitals.

Others will be community hospitals like in Devon and Dorset that serve their local communities with pride.

And I want to say this about our wonderful community hospitals.

Last year I told this conference that the era of blindly closing community hospitals was over.

This year, we’re building new ones.

—-

£2.7bn cash upfront for the six projects in the first phase that are ready to go.

And the go-ahead to the next 34 in the second phase - with the immediate funding they need to develop their plans.

All in all a £13bn plan over the next decade.

Now do you know what the Labour Party say?

They say that this plan is too long term, and we shouldn’t give this development funding to the hospitals that’ve got the go-ahead in the second phase.

I’ve even had my opposite number opposing the new hospital in his own constituency in Leicester.

That takes “opposition” to a whole new level.

But this sort of short-sighted, point-scoring, approach, without the long term planning, that’s exactly what has been wrong with hospital development in the past.

Labour are wrong.

The NHS wants a long term plan and we are going to give them the certainty they need.

All this is on top the £34 billion extra to run the NHS day to day.

All in all, the largest, longest financial commitment to the NHS in its history.

All there to ensure the NHS is always there for you and your family.

We Conservatives are the Party of the NHS, and on my watch it is always going to be this way”