Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting promises party will "under-promise and over-deliver" to save the NHS on visit to Hartlepool Ambulance Charity

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting used a visit to Hartlepool to set out plans to regain the town, which fell to the Conservatives in a by-election last year.

The defeat ended a 57-year Parliamentary reign, with victorious Tory candidate Jill Mortimer securing almost twice as many votes as her nearest rival, following a contest which saw former Prime Minister Boris Johnson pitch in with campaigning.

After a trip to see the Hartlepool Ambulance Charity on Saturday (October 8), the top MP, who was joined by Cllr Jonathan Brash, Labour’s candidate for the seat at the next election, said it’s vital work highlighted the failures of the current administration in Downing Street.

"The work the ambulance charity does is fantastic,” he said, “but I do think it’s a sad indictment of the NHS after 12 years of Conservatives that a charity is needed to provide this service.

"The cavalry is coming from Labour, because unless the NHS has the staff it needs, it can’t provide the care patients deserve.

"It seems like change is in the air, that people have really run out of patience with the Conservative Party, that each Conservative Prime Minister is worse than the one before.”

The Hartlepool Ambulance Charity was set up to provide training for first aiders and assist in emergencies before paramedics arrive.

Last month’s Labour Party Conference saw shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves promise a major expansion of the NHS workforce, if voted into power.

Staffing pressures have been blamed for a decline in quality at the North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s maternity department, resulting in a scathing report by inspectors.

Mr Streeting said he felt “really sorry” for midwives who are leaving the profession “faster than we can recruit them”.

He also claimed Labour under Keir Starmer had moved on from the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

He added: “The approach under Keir Starmer has been for Labour to under-promise and over-deliver – if we promise the earth, people will know we can’t deliver.”

Cllr Brash said he had been “delighted” to show Mr Streeting the constituency and call the need for the ambulance charity a “sad indictment” of the state of the NHS.