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Wes Streeting Acknowledging that governments should strive to “get it right the first time” A series of recent U-turns.
this minister of health Defend the government Policy reduction hits record highinsisting on feedback is the “breakfast of champions”.
However, asked whether the U-turn would hinder progress, Streeting said the government’s “New Year’s resolution” should be to avoid getting it wrong in the first place.
it appears after independent disclose Rachel Reeves plans to turn around Cancellation of business fee reduction for hotel industryfollowing a backlash from bars across the country.
Delivered a speech at the annual meeting Institute of Government Mr Streeting told delegates at the conference in central London: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.
“We like to hear that if people think we’re doing it wrong – and we think they’re right – then it’s better to do the right thing than to be politically shameless.”
He added: “In the NHS we have an initiative called GIRFT – ‘get it right first time’.
“This should be our New Year’s resolution in 2026 – let’s try to get it right the first time.”
The move is the latest in a series of U-turns by the government, which has also abandoned major welfare reforms and partially cut inheritance tax on farms due to pressure from backbenchers.
Ms Reeves also had to abandon plans to scrap winter fuel payments for around 10 million pensioners and had to abandon plans in the budget to raise income tax, which would go against Labour’s manifesto promise.
Streeting also warned that a “culture of excuses” does “no good” for the centre-left, saying people who are told to wait to access public services also suffer from the inequalities built into the system.
“The failure to address these challenges is creating cynicism and pessimism across the country, but the most corrosive of all is fatalism, the idea that things can’t change,” he said.
“However we continue to enjoy the simple joys of home, family and community, we have lost faith in our collective ability to do great things.
“The right-wingers are encouraging this argument. They are campaigning hard, coming in with chainsaws and completely destroying public services.
“It’s puzzling that some people on my side of the political divide have also started parroting the same arguments. They’re complaining about the civil service… This culture of excuses does the centre-left no good.
“If we tell the public we can’t make anything work, then why on earth would they vote to keep us in charge?”
On the NHS, Streeting said progress was being made but there was still much work to be done.
“On our best days we still have patients on trolleys being treated in corridors in conditions that fall short of my ambitions and expectations for our health service,” he said.
Streeting said he would never forget that “the British government is like a shopping trolley with a little wobble on the front wheels and it will always stay the way it is unless it is turned in the right direction”.
believe that reforms are needed, minister of health It is said that the country is inefficient when resources are limited.
“People pay more taxes but get worse services in return,” he said.
“Our destiny is in our hands,” the cabinet minister said, adding that “precisely because we on the center-left believe in the power of the state to change people’s lives, we are best placed to change it”.
He added: “Where there are no levers, we build them, and where there are obstacles, we bulldoze them.
“If the person in charge isn’t up to the job, we replace them with the best and brightest.”