Keir Starmer has announced that NHS England will be abolished to “cut bureaucracy” and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control”.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said that up to 10,000 roles will be scrapped as a result of the move, leading to “hundreds of millions of pounds in savings”.

The process of axing “the world’s biggest quango” should be done within two years and the legislation needed for this will come in the King’s speech later this year, he added.

The Prime Minister vowed to fight the “overcautious and flabby” British state – despite creating more than a dozen quangos himself since coming to power in July.

Speaking during a visit to Hull, he said: “Amongst the reasons we are abolishing it [NHS England] is because of the duplication.

“So, if you can believe it, we’ve got a communications team in NHS England, we’ve got a communications team in the health department of government; we’ve got a strategy team in NHS England, a strategy team in the government department. We are duplicating things that could be done once.

“If we strip that out, which is what we are doing today, that then allows us to free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line.”

He added that the Government wanted to push power to frontline workers “and away from the bureaucracy which often holds them up”.

Keir Starmer announces he will abolish NHS England (Image: Getty)

Sir Keir said decisions about billions of pounds of taxpayer policy should not be taken by an “arms-length” body as he vowed to implement sweeping reforms which the Government says will deliver better care for patients.

He also took aim at a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers slowing down delivery for working people” while arguing the state has become bigger but weaker.

Health is a devolved matter meaning the equivalent bodies for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland cannot be scrapped by the Prime Minister.

The decision on Thursday followed an announcement that NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and medical director Sir Stephen Powis were quitting.

NHS England was established in 2013 by former Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley to give it greater independence and autonomy from the oversight of the Government under the Conservatives.

Its leaders have been responsible for its around £190 billion annual budget – and oversees NHS policy and operational delivery of services by local providers across the country.

But NHS waiting lists and inefficiencies have grown over time and the quango’s future has been in doubt since Mr Streeting used his first day as Health Secretary to declare the NHS “broken”.

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt praised the “boldness” of the Government’s proposals but warned bureaucratic centralisation should not be replaced with political centralisation.

Alex Burghart MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, added: “We support measures to streamline NHS management and the principle of taking direct control. Labour ministers now have nowhere to hide or anyone else to blame on NHS performance. The NHS is run directly by Labour in Wales where they have created the highest waiting lists and longest waiting times in Britain.

“The government clearly has no plans to reduce the bloated civil service, or to address the fact that the size of the state will reach 44% of GDP on their watch.

“Labour are still not prepared to take the difficult decisions needed on productivity, after handing out no-strings inflation-busting pay rises, or on tackling out of control levels of immigration that are putting intolerable pressures on public services and the taxpayer. Labour are making everything worse.”

Alex Burghart MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, added: “We support measures to streamline NHS management and the principle of taking direct control. Labour ministers now have nowhere to hide or anyone else to blame on NHS performance. The NHS is run directly by Labour in Wales where they have created the highest waiting lists and longest waiting times in Britain.

“The government clearly has no plans to reduce the bloated civil service, or to address the fact that the size of the state will reach 44% of GDP on their watch.

“Labour are still not prepared to take the difficult decisions needed on productivity, after handing out no-strings inflation-busting pay rises, or on tackling out of control levels of immigration that are putting intolerable pressures on public services and the taxpayer. Labour are making everything worse.”