Good morning.
The NHS depends on tens of thousands of EU staff, many of whom work in higher qualified and better paid positions. Their future in Britain could be affected by the Brexit talks, which is why health service chief Simon Stevens has taken to the pages of today’s Telegraph to urge the Government to give foreign workers the “reassurance” that they are still “welcome in this country”. Stevens’ call will pile pressure on Theresa May, who has faced repeated calls to guarantee the rights of EU citizens already living in the UK. She has so far refused to do so without a reciprocal guarantee from EU leaders to protect British expats living on the continent.
Stevens touched on more than the implications of Brexit this morning, as he went on to lay out his blueprint for the health service after the referendum. The NHS chief calls for money to be diverted from hospitals to “overcrowded and clapped-out” GP surgeries and urges the Prime Minister to use the referendum as an opportunity for “radical change” in the health service. He also wants the new Government to “urgently” set out a child obesity strategy, warning: ““Piling on the pounds around our children’s waistlines is piling on billions of pounds in future NHS costs.” He’ll likely expand on his vision for the NHS after the referendum this afternoon when he gives evidence to the Commons Health Select Committee.
Brexit may dominate Theresa May’s in-tray, but she is determined not to have that become her be-all and end-all in office. She will use her first Cabinet meeting today to tell ministers that Britain must not be “defined by Brexit” but that everyone should prosper from the “opportunities” it brings. The Prime Minister will tell them it is their “duty” to improve education and skills and explain that social mobility is at the “heart” of her Government. She will plough headlong into Brexit talks later this week when she travels on Wednesday to Berlin for her first face-to-face meeting with Angela Mekrel as Prime Minister. Brexit will inevitably come up, but not in great detail as formal negotiations can’t take place until Britain invokes Article 50 to kick start the process.
May’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has already been meeting with EU leaders, using his first Brussels summit yesterday to vow that Britain will not be “in any way abandoning our leading role” in Europe. William Hague has offered ten points of advice to his successor in today’s Telegraph, telling him he could be “very good” in the role. “Travel a lot,” he writes. “The plane doesn’t break down every day, I assure you – and show all the inhabited continents the energy and internationalism of the United Kingdom. This job is about a lot more than Brexit.”
