Keir Starmer has brought the health service back under the control of ministers by abolishing NHS England.
The prime minister said the NHS should be overseen by politicians rather than an arms length body.
Starmer’s move is one step towards reversing a shake-up of the NHS carried out by former health secretary Andrew Lansley in the first years of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
In a speech about reshaping the state, Starmer said NHS England would be abolished to “cut bureaucracy” and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control”.
He said the move would free up cash for doctors, nurses and frontline services, and cut red tape to help speed up improvements in the NHS, with the government aiming to slash waiting lists by the next election.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has already presided over plans to reduce the size of NHS England by half, and its chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, is leaving at the end of the month.
Streeting said on Thursday that the government was “abolishing the biggest quango in the world” by getting rid of NHS England. Its functions would be taken into the Department of Health.
