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Bring back Rayner, Streeting tells Labour
Health Secretary Wes Streeting during the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool, September 30, 2025

BRING back Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told conference in a speech that set out his stall for the leadership election many feel is not so far away.

In an address that won multiple ovations from delegates and also invoked Nye Bevan, Mr Streeting thanked the former deputy premier and added, “we need her back.”

He challenged Reform’s approach to migrant workers, so important to the NHS.

“Farage says, ‘go home.’ We say ‘you are home.’ I’ve got your back. We’ve got your back, and at the next election, we’ll send Farage packing,” he said in one of the lines that sent delegates delirious.

He also pledged modernisation of the health service to meet the challenges caused by the impact of scientific development on healthcare.

In radio interviews earlier, Mr Streeting said he felt Israel was committing “war crimes” in Gaza, a further piece of positioning from one of the Cabinet’s most pro-Israeli politicians.

Earlier, the government announced £500 million funding for a fair pay agreement to be introduced in the notoriously exploitative care sector.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea welcomed the prospect of fair pay agreements for care workers, saying: “The higher wages that result will help make staff feel more valued, boost recruitment and encourage carer workers to stay in their jobs for longer,” but emphasised that more money would be needed.

And GMB national officer Will Dalton backed the move, saying it “will enable us to negotiate and actually pay carers a living wage, while developing the industry into one safer, more respected and better valued.”

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