Wes Streeting appointed health secretary

Lucy North/PA Wire

By Stephen Robinson

Wes Streeting has been appointed as the new health secretary following Labour’s landslide election victory, No 10 has announced.

Update: Health secretary Wes Streeting has since announced in a statement that he has spoken to the BMA junior doctors committee and that "talks to end their industrial action will begin next week".

Streeting had been Labour’s shadow health secretary since 2021, responsible for overseeing the party’s mission to rebuild the NHS, including a pledge to create 40,000 new appointments each week.

He has been MP for Ilford North since 2015 but only narrowly won his seat in this year's election by just a few hundred votes.

Streeting faces a sizable inbox as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the British Medical Association’s demands for pay restoration could be immediately on the agenda after Labour officials had promised to instigate discussions on “day one”.

Streeting has previously said there is “space for a discussion” on pay, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.