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The defence secretary boldly rejected his colleague Wes Streeting’s claim that there “is a deep disillusionment in this country at the moment”. The health secretary caused a stir when he told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips last week: “There is a deep disillusionment in this country at the moment and, I’d say, growing sense of despair about whether anyone is capable of turning this country around.” Streeting said while he is an optimist, “there is also so much more to do”. His remarks came after Labour’s humiliating by-election defeat in Caerphilly, which the senior minister compared to the lowest point of Starmer’s time as a party leader. He compared the terrible result in Labour’s former stronghold to a similar seismic loss in Hartlepool in 2021, when Starmer considered resigning as Labour leader. But asked if he agreed with his colleague today, defence secretary John Healey said sharply: “No. I don’t, actually.” He continued: “Look, there’s a sense of times are still tough. “There’s a sense of impatience for the kind of change people voted for 15 months ago, but people are recognising there are more appointments in the NHS now. They’re recognising that particularly if they’re low-paid, there’s a record increase in wages. “They’re recognising that we’ve had five interest rate cuts since the election, and in my field, they’re recognising that this is a government which – this week – delivering an £8 billion deal for fast jets for Turkey, and that’s going to support 20,000 jobs over the next few years, around the UK. “They can see a government – not just in the Treasury – looking to drive economic growth, because in the end, that’s going to make a difference in their living standards.” According to a poll from YouGov just this week, Labour dropped down three points in just seven days in the to 17%, meaning they are level with the Tories – and trailing Reform UK (on 27%) by 10 points.
