Streeting said the ‘founding principles of the NHS are now contested for the first time in generations'.

He said it was Labour's ‘moral mission' to preserve the right to preserve a health service that was ‘universal, publicly funded, free at the point of use, available to all'.

‘We do not believe in two tier healthcare,' Streeting said. ‘We do not believe your postcode should determine your prognosis. We do not believe that the size of your wallet should decide the length of your life.'

Streeting said the Government also ‘must rebuild the social care system' unveiling its  £500m Fair Pay Agreement for care workers, adding it ‘will be the mission of this Labor Government to build a National Care Service worthy of the name'.

He also pledged to tackle inequalities in healthcare, promising to ‘rebuild the NHS where the need is greatest'.

‘As we build a new generation of neighborhood health centres, they won't go to the places with the loudest lobbyists, but to the communities with the deepest deprivation,' he said.

The health secretary also trailered tomorrow's policy announcement of giving patients the ability to make a GP appointment online at any time.

In a reference to the BMA's opposition to reform, Streeting said he would not ‘give into the forces of conservatism;' and ‘won't back down'.

Reaction

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said the Government was ‘burying its head in the sand' by making no mention of additional support to prevent a winter crisis.

Morgan said: ‘Frontline staff are warning that this could be the worst winter in NHS history, and yet the impending crisis did not even merit a single sentence from the health secretary today.'

The Lib Dem spokesperson urged the Government to ‘bring forward emergency measures at once to winter-proof the NHS, including extra social care places to free up beds, a recruitment drive for out-of-hours GPs, and introducing a qualified clinician in every A&E waiting room to ensure no one gets dangerously sick waiting to be seen'.