THE Budget will have a “big focus” on capital spending and new technology in the NHS, according to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

He said on GB News: “What’s happened is we’ve seen more money and more staff poured in, but without the reform.

“The lesson of the last Labour government, that delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history, is that it’s investment plus reform that delivers results.

“That’s why a big focus for me and the Chancellor is about how we make sure that alongside any investment that goes in, we improve the productivity of the system.

“There will be a big focus in the Budget around investment in things like capital and tech so that we can make the system more efficient.

“Even where we’re doing things like 40,000 more appointments every week, that will also be achieved through reformed ways of working, so we get more bang for the buck.

“People are feeling the pinch in their pockets at the moment and right across the public sector we’ve got pressures, so we can’t just keep on pouring more money in without reform.

“That would be a waste of money we don’t have, and a waste of time that we don’t have as well.”

He added: “We’ve got to get the basics right. It’s also about making sure the money goes to the right places. And, for example, pouring more and more money into our hospitals isn’t going to fix the crisis.

“Putting more money into neighbourhood health services, primary care, that would make a difference, because if someone can’t get a GP appointment that costs 40 quid, for example, they can end up in A and E, which costs 400.

“You can see how that would be worse for patients in terms of their convenience and getting to the right place at the right time, also worse for the taxpayer.

“That’s why I’m focused relentlessly on reform and making sure the NHS works more efficiently, more effectively.

“It’s been interesting since the General Election, the Conservative Party won’t admit their mistakes, but I’ve had support from the Liberal Democrats, and I’ve had support from Nigel Farage and the Reform party on some of the things we’ve been saying about NHS reform.

“We are building a new national consensus here and I think that can only be a good thing.”

On the Budget, he said: “I genuinely don’t know what decisions the Chancellor has made or is making about tax, because she doesn’t share those until much closer to the Budget.

“I’m not going to speculate because I value my kneecaps and the Chancellor won’t tolerate me going around speculating about her Budget.

“But all I would say, just on this point about National Insurance, we were very clear in our manifesto, no increases in income tax national insurance or VAT on working people, and we will keep those promises.

“I remember us getting criticised before the General Election with people saying, ‘well, why aren’t you making bigger promises? Why aren’t you going to spend more on X, Y or Z?’

“We were deliberately cautious because we knew that the public finances were in a state. In fact, they’re even worse than we expected,.

“We wanted to make sure that the promises we made were promises we could keep and the country can afford, and despite the challenges we’ve walked into, I can tell you, we will honour every single one of those manifesto commitments.”