|
|
Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Lib Dems Demand Changes To The Health And Social Care Bill
April 12, 2011 10:33 AM
[Apr 11] Evan Harris writes: FOLLOWING the overwhelming vote at the Lib Dem Spring Party Conference for significant amendments to Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms, the future of the NHS Bill is under discussion at the top of Government.
We have said very clearly as a party that - although we recognise there will be NHS reforms as per the coalition agreement - we will not accept the marketisation of the NHS , the cherry-picking of NHS services, and that we want proper local democratic accountability and effective scrutiny of NHS commissioning . Nick Clegg and his colleagues understand the absolute political imperative to get these changes. It will be a real boost for us to demonstrate that we do act as a restraint on the excessive market-based ideology of the Conservatives and that where a policy is not in the Coalition Agreement and is one which we as a party cannot support, then we will not accept having a whip imposed on our MPs to vote it through.
It is important to make absolutely clear to the Conservatives and to the media that we as a party will not be ignored on this issue. So - following careful consultation with external independent health policy and NHS experts and in close consultation with Shirley Williams and other key players - the movers of the amendment at Party Conference have published a list of the specific changes that are needed to comply with the Coalition Agreement and the conference motion as amended.
We are hoping that as many Lib Dem members as possible will sign up to the statement of support set out below. Over 1200 have already done so including hundreds of conference reps, councillors and over 100 PPCs. You can sign up at http://socialliberal.net/sign-the-statement/. The full list of the required changes to the bill can be seen there also , as can the list of those who have signed (there is an option for non-publication of your name though). The more signatures we have, the more we can make clear that the Lib Dems will not accept the NHS Bill in its current form and the more we will strengthen the position of Nick and our MPs in the discussions.
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats