Labour claims study shows Tories back further NHS privatisation
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Version 0 of 1. Labour has released research that claims to expose widespread support for the introduction of NHS charging and privatisation inside the Conservative party. A survey of Tory councillors who were asked about future funding of the NHS shows that more than a quarter appear to support further charging and privatisation. The dossier will be officially released on Monday at the launch of the party’s NHS Week, which seeks to capitalise on David Cameron’s perceived weakness on the issue of health in the general election campaign. Over time, polls show that managing the NHS is one of the two most important issues at the forefront of voters’ minds, alongside immigration. When it comes to which party is the most trusted to manage the NHS, Labour holds a substantial lead over the Tories. Responses from 115 Conservative councillors in the dossier include claims that they back charges for GP appointments and other NHS services, and increased privatisation plans for cutting the NHS. Some appeared to call for an insurance-based system of healthcare to replace the NHS or for another reorganisation led by the private sector, Labour claimed. A total of 26 agree with introducing charges for NHS services, a further 12 support privatisation or increased use of the private sector, while six want to make cuts to the NHS, the dossier says. Labour leader Ed Miliband will tell the Scottish Trades Union Congress on Monday that Tory plans are a “double deceit” because they refuse to say where austerity cuts would fall or how they would pay for last week’s £8bn NHS funding pledge. “They are not being straight about their extreme plans to double the cuts to public services next year. And they are not being straight when they promise to protect the NHS, but cannot say where a penny of additional money will come from. This double deceit is a double danger to the NHS,” he will say. Labour claim they conducted the survey openly and approached Tory councillors with a set of questions on the NHS and its future. Nick Hurst, a Tory councillor for Stroud district council, is quoted in the survey saying: “There are a number of areas where the NHS should not trespass. Gender re-alignment for instance must be a private matter. IVF, while desperately traumatic for some, has to be an issue the NHS should leave to private clinics. “So, my bottom line is that healthcare, like education, is too important to be left to politicians to use as a political football. It should be taken out of government interference and run as a business by a commission.” Contacted on Sunday night, Hurst said he had written the words attributed to him, but was under the impression that he was replying to a student completing a piece of academic work. Hurst said he was not told that it would be used in a Labour party survey. “If I had been told that, I would not have helped. It is an outrageous way to behave,” he said. On Sunday morning, Labour accused the Conservatives of having secret plans to cut the number of NHS nurses after the election. The party claims the cuts are revealed in an official government document forecasting that NHS trusts will employ nearly 2,000 fewer nurses over the next four years. The Tories have dismissed the claims, saying the report, Workforce Plan for England, was based on out-of-date figures before they committed to increase NHS spending. |