Is the government succeeding in setting the news agenda this summer to win voters back?

Up next on the roster of Number 10’s themed weeks is ‘NHS Week’. As the government’s plight to dominate the summer news agenda on key electoral issues ahead of next year’s election continues, this week focusses on health policy and the PM’s goal of reducing NHS waiting times (just as junior doctors return from their strike). 

Last week, the focus was on immigration in an attempt to highlight the Prime Minister’s pledge to ‘Stop the Boats’. Unfortunately, reports later in the week saw the evacuation of migrants from the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge (where they had been housed) due to health and safety concerns. 

Back to Health Week, and to support a narrative of delivery by the Conservatives, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he would be “open to requests” to allow patients in Wales and Scotland to be treated at providers in England NHS or the independent sector amidst record waiting times. This speaks to one of Rishi Sunak’s five key priorities of cutting NHS waiting times. It also seeks to push the Conservatives’ narrative that health services would not be better managed by Labour who currently run NHS operations in Wales.

Despite this, Barclay’s offer has faced backlash. Many news outlets have reported a direct comparison to English hospital waiting lists, which hit a record high 7.57 million people in June. 

Another announcement timed for this morning confirms an additional £250m for the NHS to tackle waiting times, part of the Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan, which intends to provide 5,000 more hospital beds. Although promising, this could fall on deaf ears, with ongoing concerns that there are too many vacancies for the current number of hospital beds and continued dissatisfaction amongst junior doctors regarding pay.  

Despite initial hopes that Sunak's five pledges would have been 'easy wins' for the Conservatives, the reality today is far different and it has been made even more challenging to demonstrate progress when news reporting in parallel highlights contextual challenges like inflation and skills pipelines also impacting success. 

So far, not so good as these themed weeks have served to highlight what little progress has seemingly been made on Sunak’s key pledges. Comms officials in the Conservative party will be hoping the next few weeks of summer work as intended to regain control over the narrative of delivery in the lead up to the next general election.