Shadow minister, in demand for his campaigning ability, believes some on left ‘allow perfect to be the enemy of good’

In the beating sunshine deep in the heart of one of the Conservatives’ safest Midlands seats, Wes Streeting is slapping on factor 50 for another afternoon in pursuit of a historic Labour majority. It is in these safe seats where it will be seen whether the extinction-level predictions for the Tories are accurate.

But Streeting, who has been dispatched by Labour HQ to crisscross the country hundreds of miles, says his party is feeling the heat of undecided voters – and during a half hour of canvassing, there are plenty of them politely reluctant to commit to Labour.

Exclusive: Shadow health secretary discusses plans for waiting lists and patient safety if Labour wins election

NHS managers who silence and scapegoat whistleblowers will be banned from working in the service, the shadow health secretary has said, as part of a determined drive by Labour to eradicate a culture of cover-ups.

In an interview with the Guardian, Wes Streeting pledged to push through the formal regulation of NHS managers and warned the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that its inspectors must get much better at exposing risks to patients’ safety in order to regain the confidence of frontline staff.

Labour leader says halting of asylum processing due to government’s Rwanda policy ‘absurd and reckless’

Keir Starmer has admitted for the first time that he would not return people to Afghanistan, after a bitter exchange in Wednesday night’s debate where Rishi Sunak mocked him for planning to “sit down with the ayatollahs” to negotiate return agreements.

Starmer has repeatedly said he plans to negotiate returns agreements with safe countries in order to clear the asylum backlog, which has worsened due to the government’s recent legislation which does not allow asylum seekers to be processed while it waits to start deportations to Rwanda.