Wes Streeting slammed over ‘unfair’ weight loss jabs for the jobless: ‘Hard-working Brits are being penalised!’
Wes Streeting said the initiative could be 'monumental in our approach to tackling obesity'
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been lambasted for his "unfair" move to trial weight loss jabs with unemployed Britons, as GB News host Andrew Pierce stated that the latest Labour initiative is "punishing hard-working Britons".
Streeting has claimed that this will be a "monumental" approach to tackling obesity in the UK, and "very important" for the economy.
Writing in the Telegraph, Streeting said that "widening waistbands" are placing "significant burden on our health service".
He claimed: "The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity."
Andrew Pierce hit out at Wes Streeting over the planned trials for weight loss injections
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Reacting to Streeting's remarks on GB News, Andrew feared that Britons may be "forced to say on the drug for life", citing the most common side effect of weight loss injections such as Ozempic and Wegovy - the weight returning to the person after they have stopped taking it.
Andrew fumed: "I don't think it educates people about their diet, and I don't think it's very healthy. We do not know long term the side effects of this drug.
"That's going to cost the taxpayer the NHS a lot of money too, because the cost is currently £150 a month."
Criticising the move further, Andew highlighted that the jabs are being offered to overweight Britons who are currently "unemployed", and not those who are overweight but in work.
Wes Streeting said the initiative could be 'monumental in our approach to tackling obesity'
GB NEWSAndrew scolded: "If you are working hard and you're overweight, are you not going to be somewhat resentful that somebody who's not working, who's overweight, is getting this drug for free?
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"So yet again, the strivers, the people who are thrifty, who work hard, get penalised. Why is that fair?"
In agreement with Andrew, Bev Turner weighed in on the plans, adding: "There's a picture emerging here with this government. They are starting to reward those who aren't contributing and aren't working.
"I know it's difficult, but it's almost like they're then punishing the people who are working."
Andrew then interjected: "An overweight working person, who would probably love to be on Ozempic or one of these drugs but can't afford it, will see some bloke or woman up the road who's overweight, been on the dole for years, and they get the drug. How's that fair?"
Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner were outraged by the initiative, branding it 'unfair'
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Expressing her concerns for Labour's affiliation with the big pharmaceutical companies, Bev feared for Sir Keir Starmer's government being "schmoozed" by them.
Bev explained: "Drug companies are very powerful, and drug companies are very persuasive.
"And when you've got a government who is seduced by money, contracts being what they feel is at the forefront of a technological, a pharmaceutical advance, this lot have fallen for it.
"And so I think somebody's been in, they've schmoozed them, they've told them give our drugs to all these people - you're going to pay us, we're not going to give it to you for free. And this is your trial of 3000 people who don't have jobs.
"So basically, we are now enacting the trial for a pharmaceutical company."