The National Health Service – Labour’s greatest triumph but beloved by the whole nation – is perhaps the closest thing Britain has to a national religion. Governments mess with it at their peril. More important than any politician or political party, those who act against the best interests of the NHS are quickly found out, excoriated and then ejected by an angry electorate.
Every political party knows this. So damaging and toxic was the issue for the Tories that David Cameron based his detoxification of the Tory brand upon it. Without this, the Tories may never have returned to power, but whilst this sleight of hand may have worked for some, it didn’t work for the majority and upon entering No10, David Cameron’s commitment to the NHS – despite his protestations – remained a doubt for many.
The Health and Social Care Bill, today receiving its second reading in the House of Lords, has vindicated the doubters. A disastrous piece of legislation without a mandate, without professional support and without public support, this Bill, only still alive now due to the support of the Liberal Democrats, risks causing irreparable damage to the NHS.
Paul Corrigan – not a Labour tribalist but a former health policy advisor to Tony Blair– has compared the Bill to the Poll Tax and he is right to do so in terms of consequence, of process and of political significance. So damaging will this Bill be, both to the NHS and to the government, that Corrigan has stated that the government should “see it is in their interests that in the next few weeks this Bill is defeated and withdrawn.”
This point was echoed by Michael Portillo in January this year when he told Andrew Neil that the Tories deliberately hid their NHS proposals from the public before the 2010 general election, saying: "They did not believe they could win an election if they told you what they were going to do because people are so wedded to the NHS." A truly startling admission
The next 48 hours are amongst the most critical in the history of the NHS and all eyes are on the Lords. Labour is clear, if the government drops this Bill we will work with them to produce something better which commands public support. It doesn’t have to be this way...but will Cameron and Lansley listen?
Jamie Reed is the Labour MP for Copeland and has just been appointed to the shadow health team by Ed Miliband
Comments
Steve / October 11 2011 10:29pm
Jamie,
Nowhere in this post do you actually outline a single reason for the Bill being bad, other than innuendo and speculation. This isn't enough.
I've doubts about the bill, such as the issue of what happens to the PCT staff (i.e. is this not just a massive exercise of churning staff around?), but you must better back your arguments up in public if you want wide, unequivocal support. Labour scaremongering won't be enough - hard facts would help.
Some helpful advice, I hope.
Ann Lawson / October 12 2011 6:14am
Those pesky liberal democrats. They should have stuck to sorting uneven pavements out. That's all they are good for