Reeves rejects plea for £1bn of extra cash to cover NHS redundancy payouts

Streeting (centre) had spent months trying to persuade Reeves (left) to grant additional funding to enable the NHS’s 42 integrated care boards to start slimming down their role. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Rachel Reeves has rebuffed a plea from Wes Streeting for an emergency injection of £1bn into the NHS’s budget to cover the cost of mass redundancies.

The chancellor’s decision is a setback for the health secretary, who had been lobbying behind the scenes in Whitehall for extra money to pay off 18,000 personnel who are losing their jobs.