He reiterated his support for the UK’s eventual return to the EU.
Labour should consider cutting national insurance and issuing new oil drilling licences for the North Sea, Wes Streeting said as he continued to make his pitch for the party’s leadership.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Times, the former health secretary set out a series of policies ahead of a potential leadership contest expected by many in Westminster within the coming months.
He reiterated his support for the UK’s eventual return to the EU, while saying the party should stick to its manifesto commitments on Europe in the short term.
And he backed his possible opponent Andy Burnham’s support for more devolution and greater state intervention in the market as “a good pro-fairness thing to do”.
But Mr Streeting went further, arguing Labour should issue more North Sea oil and gas licences, not because it would reduce bills but because it would provide additional tax revenue.
He said: “We do have to take climate change globally much more seriously and go aggressively towards more renewable energy.
“But there’s sometimes a danger of Britain wanting to lead the world. We cut off our own nose to spite our face without contributing to the greater whole.”
He also suggested he would be open to reversing the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions introduced by Rachel Reeves in her first budget in order to boost employment, particularly among young people.
Mr Streeting said: “I think we should be thinking actively about how to incentivise, whether that’s through targeted reduction in employers’ national insurance or other kinds of recruitment and retention incentives.”
These positions echoed those taken by former prime minister Sir Tony Blair in an essay criticising some of Labour’s policies and accusing the Government of lacking a “coherent plan”.
Mr Streeting told the Times that Labour had come to power “underprepared” and “lacking any sort of intellectual curiosity”.
But he also said he would give Sir Tony “a flea in his ear” over some of his suggestions, particularly on artificial intelligence – suggesting the former prime minister had made arguments he would not have done in office.
He said: “Blair’s done himself a disservice proposing a prescription that was absent of any values.
“I feel the Tony Blair of 1997, or the Tony Blair of 2007 for that matter, would have been making an argument that said, okay, big revolution coming, how do we apply traditional values in a modern setting?”
Meanwhile, Sir Tony himself defended his essay against criticism from figures within Labour such as Mr Burnham who argued he had paid too little attention to inequality.
Writing in The Observer, he said Labour should be “cautious about treating populism as a consequence simply of economics” with Brexit and Donald Trump showing “cultural questions also matter”.
He added: “Too often progressive positions on these issues seem to have been driven by noisy pressure groups, not common sense.”
Building on his earlier policy prescriptions, Sir Tony suggested the public would support a “rethinking of healthcare”, more flexible labour regulations, and cuts to welfare to pay for increased defence spending.
