Starmer vows to reform mental health services

SIR Keir Starmer will vow to “inject resource and reform” into mental health services as he welcomes MP and psychiatrist Dr Dan Poulter — who quit the Tory Party in anger over the NHS crisis — to Labour.

The Labour leader will promise to “overhaul” the way mental health is approached if he wins the election as he visits his party’s newest MP today.

Dr Poulter, a former Tory health minister and part-time working medic, made the shock announcement that he was crossing the floor to Labour on Saturday.

He said Rishi Sunak’s Government was “failing” the NHS and that he could no longer “look my NHS colleagues in the eye” as a Conservative.

“The health service has ceased to be an area of priority for the Conservative Party, and that is now showing in the strain on the front line and the deterioration of care for patients,” he said.

Dr Poulter said “the only cure is a Labour government”, and that he would support Sir Keir and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting on NHS policy.

Sir Keir said “it’s fantastic” that Dr Poulter has joined Labour and will help get the NHS back on its feet.

It comes as Labour pointed to NHS data showing some 120,000 children waited six months or longer between referral for mental health support and treatment in 2022-23, with Sir Keir calling these waits “a scar on a civilised society”.

Appearing alongside Dr Poulter, he will highlight a future Labour government’s focus on mental health reform. The party plans to improve the Mental Health Act and provide 8,500 specially-trained mental health staff, support in every school and an open access early intervention hub in every community, paid for by closing tax loopholes.

Sir Keir said: “I will not sit on my hands while tens of thousands of people languish on mental health waiting lists.”