Overview
- Wes Streeting told Labour figures to stop blaming civil servants or “stakeholder capture,” warning that voters expect leadership, not excuses.
- He argued for an activist approach to implementation, saying, “Where there aren’t levers, we build them… Where there are barriers, we bulldoze them.”
- The intervention was widely read as a response to Keir Starmer’s recent complaints about slow delivery due to regulations and arm’s-length bodies.
- Streeting’s stance follows an article by former No 10 aide Paul Ovenden urging the rapid dismantling of what he called the stakeholder state.
- Some allies of the prime minister privately distanced themselves from Ovenden’s piece, calling it unhelpful as Labour faces scrutiny over delivery after 19 months in office.