Rishi Sunak speech today: PM to address NHS struggles and strikes in latest announcement

The government has hired a disaster relief charity to help drivers struck in lengthy queues at the Port of Dover in Kent during 2023, it has emerged (Adam Forrest writes).

The Department for Transport signed off on a £200,000 contract for RE:ACT – a humanitarian charity which gets aid to war and disaster zones – to help those hit by disruption at Dover.

The charity will hand our food and water to motorists and lorry drivers if they are hampered by the major standstills seen in 2022, linked to post-Brexit problems.

An emergency department nurse has described “relentless conditions” in hospitals, as Rishi Sunak prepares to lay out plans for fixing the NHS.

Nurse Stephen McKenna said he would be concerned for any of his loved ones if they had to seek treatment in an emergency department at this time because staff are “overwhelmed”.

“It’s hard to put into words how difficult it has been for healthcare staff across the board and, in particular, in emergency care,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.

“It’s quite possibly the worst I have seen it in my six years working in A&E. I would probably liken it to emergency care in developing countries and I can, hand on heart, say that that is the case.

“I had a nursing elective studying abroad, and I was horrified at what I saw when I was in Nepal, and I am starting to see similar things right here in Northern Ireland, and across the UK, and it is heart-breaking for the staff.”

Culture secretary Michelle Donelan has recommended that the planned Channel 4 privatisation does not go ahead, a leaked letter has revealed (Adam Forrest writes).

Writing to Rishi Sunak, the cabinet minister said there are “better ways to ensure C4’s sustainability” than selling off the publicly-owned broadcaster.

The apparent U-turn follows plans announced by Boris Johnson’s government last year to privatise the channel, sparking outrage from opposition parties, Tory MPs and top media figures.

In a letter leaked to the News Agents podcast, Ms Donelan wrote: “After reviewing the business case, I have concluded that pursing a sale at this point is not the right decision.”

The culture secretary also told Mr Sunak that the TV sector “would be very disrupted by a sale at a time when growth and economic stability are our priortities”.

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries has spoken out after reports that her successor Michelle Donelan has recommended the government drop its plan to privatise Channel 4.

Ms Dorries, Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, had led the controversial move during Boris Johnson’s premiership.

She tweeted: “Three years of a progressive Tory government being washed down the drain.

“Levelling up, dumped. Social care reform, dumped. Keeping young and vulnerable people safe online, watered down. A bonfire of EU leg, not happening. Sale of C4 giving back £2b reversed. Replaced with what?”

Labour has extended its poll lead over the Conservatives to 20 points in the first voting intension survey of 2023 (Adam Forrest writes).

Sir Keir Starmer’s party is up one point on 47 per cent support while Rishi Sunak’s party is down two on 27 per cent, according to the Redfield and Wilton poll.

However, the same survey found that the prime minister is ahead of the Labour leader on questions of leadership and economic competence.

Shadow mental health secretary and practising A&E doctor Rosena Allin-Khan said the current state of the NHS is “the worst” health workers have ever seen.

The Labour MP for Tooting told Sky News: “What I’m seeing is what my colleagues are echoing around the country, is that they feel, unfortunately, that this is the worst they have ever seen the NHS for patients and for staff.”

Ms Allin-Khan said nurses were going in to work feeling they are not giving “dignified, safe care” to patients.

“When you go to work with that burden you have to understand the toll that that takes,” she said.

Speaking as Rishi Sunak prepares to lay out plans to fix the NHS, Ms Allin Khan said Labour in power would implement a workforce plan that would train 10,000 more nurses and midwives every year and double the number of district nurses.

Rishi Sunak will unveil plans to make it compulsory to study some form of maths until the age of 18, in a drive to ensure the UK rivals the best education systems in the world.

However, the change will not come about until after the next election, which opinion polls currently suggest the Conservatives will lose to Labour.

In his first public engagement of the year, Mr Sunak will use a speech in central London to warn that the jobs of the future will require more analytical skills than ever before.

“Letting our children out into the world without those skills, is letting our children down,” he will say.

He will also point to the fact that, unlike many other countries, just half of all 16-19-year-olds study maths.

Rishi Sunak is set to address the biggest problems facing the NHS in a major speech at 2pm today.

He is expected to talk about issues including the backlog of millions of patients awaiting treatment and ambulance delays.

The health service is struggling under high demand while further staff strikes loom – including by nurses and ambulance workers

Briefings of the speech revealed that Mr Sunak will also take the opportunity to warn that Britain cannot afford to meet the pay demands of striking workers and confirm his plans to bring new laws to limit industrial action.