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Health and Education

The difference between the right hon. Gentleman and Labour Members is that the policies on which he stood in the election campaign would have required those who wished to take advantage of additional capacity and faster treatment in the private sector to pay half the charges of their operations. That is why that policy would have benefited only a few. Our policies are benefiting everyone within the NHS. I pay heartfelt tribute to my predecessors as Secretary of State for Health—my right hon. Friends the Members for Holborn and St. Pancras (Frank Dobson), for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) and for Airdrie and Shotts (John Reid). I feel enormously privileged to have been appointed to this office. It is an enormous responsibility and my Ministers and I are extremely fortunate in being able to build on the strong foundations that have already been laid.