Health secretary refuses to be drawn on NHS England scrapping cancer target reports – UK politics live | Politics

Steve Barclay would not be drawn this morning on the media round into claims that two-thirds of cancer targets in NHS England will be scrapped.

Asked about the newspaper reports by BBC Breakfast, PA Media reports the health secretary said: “There is a consultation at the moment, the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.”

He had earlier said: “This is something led by clinicians working in cancer.

“It is not something being imposed by the Government, it is in response to requests by those working in the cancer field and any changes, if they are announced in the coming days, will be in consultation with the leading cancer charities.”

Prof Pat Price, visiting oncology professor at Imperial College London and co-founder of the Catch Up With Cancer Campaign, had earlier said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she had asked the government minister to meet her “many times” but that she “hadn’t had a response”.

She said: “We’ve kindly met with his special adviser but we need to meet with him.

“We’ve had letters from the community a year ago that have not been responded to.”

Prof Price criticised the Government’s plans to scrap cancer targets for patients to see a specialist within two weeks, describing it as “fiddling around with targets” in the middle of a crisis.

Some supporters of the change, which include Cancer Research UK, believe it may to improvements in diagnosis.

Good morning and welcome to our live UK politics coverage. Parliament is in recess so there isn’t much down in the diary for today, but there is still plenty of news around. Here are the headlines:

• Home Office contractors were told that potentially deadly legionella bacteria had been detected on the Bibby Stockholm hours after asylum seekers were taken onboard the barge. Dorset council flagged the legionella test results to the barge contractors on the day they received them, Monday 7 August, raising questions about why the evacuation of 39 people from the barge took four days. Health secretary Steve Barclay this morning said that home office ministers were informed on Thursday.

• The Times reports that “gunfire and clashes involving migrants desperate to get to Britain broke out in Dunkirk in the hours before a small boat sank in the Channel killing six people” at the weekend. A teenager who attempted the journey told the paper there were clashes as people sought places on the boats.

• The scrapping of a target for patients to see a specialist within two weeks if their GP suspects they have cancer is expected to be confirmed within days under new plans by the NHS in England. Instead, the new “faster diagnosis standard” proposes that patients who have been urgently referred should have cancer ruled out or receive a diagnosis within 28 days.

• Barclay refused to be drawn on the claims during his morning media round. On the BBC this morning he said: “There is a consultation at the moment, the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.”

• The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced it is opening a consultation to seek views on the introduction and design of pack inserts for tobacco products, such as cigarettes and rolling tobacco.

• The Telegraph has led with a story that Save the Children UK and the NSPCC are among groups that have come together to write to Baroness Hallett, the chairman of the Covid inquiry, to demand an explanation for “unacceptable delays” in examining the impact of the pandemic on young people, claiming the inquiry is “silencing” children.

• About 3.9m working days have been lost to industrial action in the past year, more than at any point since the 1980s, according to a new analysis by the Resolution Foundation.

It is Martin Belam here with you this week. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com