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Lansley should be replaced after health bill becomes law, says Hughes

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Lib Dem deputy leader says health secretary should 'move on' to enable government to put NHS controversy behind it

A leading Liberal Democrat sparked renewed speculation about Andrew Lansley's future when he said David Cameron should find a new health secretary after the health bill becomes law.

The Lib Dem deputy leader, Simon Hughes, said he believed Lansley needed to "move on" in the second half of this parliament so the government could put the controversy over the NHS reforms behind it.

Hughes's comments will not be welcome in Downing Street, where Cameron has been defending Lansley in response to calls from the influential ConservativeHome website for him to be replaced and an anonymous briefing from a No 10 source saying the health secretary should be "taken out and shot".

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, he said: "I'm clear we need to move on from this bill. My political judgment is that in the second half of parliament it would be better [for Lansley] to move on."

When asked whether he was saying Lansley should be replaced, he confirmed that he was, but also accepted that he needed to be "careful about the political sensitivities of this coalition".

Although Hughes is not a minister, he is the most senior figure in the party to call for Lansley to be replaced.

He spoke out as Labour stepped up its attack on the health reforms, releasing an internal Department of Health letter saying too many patients were facing delays because trusts were failing to meet waiting time targets.

Labour claimed an order to NHS managers to bring down "unacceptable" waiting times was a sign of increasing coalition nervousness.

A letter from the NHS deputy chief executive, David Flory, to senior managers shows rising concern over the deteriorating performance on waiting times. The question of patient waits led to spiky dispatch box exchanges between Cameron and the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, last week.

The coalition finds itself under fire on many fronts. The Mail on Sunday reported that McKinsey, which has received almost £14m from the government for work on the NHS, paid for health regulator staff from Monitor – including the chairman, chief operating officer and director of strategy – to attend lavish events.

A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed only 18% of people said they supported the NHS reforms. It revealed that 48% opposed them, with 34% saying they were not sure.

In the Sunday Times, Cameron offered fresh support to Lansley. Arguing that the NHS needed to change, the prime minister said: "That is why I am at one with Andrew Lansley, the reform programme and the legislation going through parliament." He also insisted that the changes to the health bill were "evolutionary, not revolutionary".

Conservative cabinet colleagues also offered the health secretary their support. "Andrew is very committed to the health service," Eric Pickles told Sky. Pickles said that "of course" Lansley should stay and that, as communities secretary, he was "very supportive" of the bill, "particularly as it enhances the role of local government".

Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, who has been tipped as a possible successor to Lansley, told the Andrew Marr Show: "Andrew Lansley is absolutely the right person for this job – [he is a] decent man, passionate about the NHS, and he knows what he is doing."

However, the issue of waiting times in the NHS concerns ministers, who are aware that public anger could damage the coalition's chances at the local elections this May. Labour said that while the PM insisted waiting lists were going down, "inside the Department of Health, senior officials are saying the opposite".

Last week, Flory wrote to health trusts warning "that 47 commissioners and 30 trusts have missed the standard that 90% of admitted patients should be treated within 18 weeks".

His letter added: "Waiting times are a key part of patients' perceptions of the NHS and their care and can impact on patient outcomes. It is unacceptable for performance to fall below the expected standards."

Flory said "too many patients are still being reported to be waiting a long time", especially those waiting longer than a year for treatment.

Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said: "This letter gives the lie to David Cameron's complacent claims that NHS waiting lists are coming down.

"David Cameron's government lost its grip on waiting times when it relaxed Labour's standards. Behind David Cameron's spin, this letter reveals his government's desperate rearguard action to regain control as long waits return to the NHS."

Government sources accept that peers, who restart voting on the health bill on Monday, will inflict a series of defeats on the legislation, and ministers will have to concede more to rebels in order to get the bill on the statute book by the end of the parliamentary session in April.


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