Thanks to a Hampstead and Kilburn constituent for forwarding this. Cameron's Tories haven't got a huge majority, we are supposed to have a Left leadership in the Labour Party, but their MPs won't turn up on a vital issue. What would Bevan say?
Has anyone got a message from Dawn Butler?
--> Has anyone got a message from Dawn Butler?
Good evening,
I am writing in response to your email, in which you asked whether I would attend the Second Reading of the National Health Service Bill on Friday 11th March. Thank you very much for taking the time to write to me about this.
I could not agree with you more that the Health and Social Care Act, which was passed by the Tory and Lib Dem Government in 2012, needs to be repealed urgently. Spending on private and other providers has gone through the £10 billion barrier for the first time in the history of our health system, and unnecessary costs to our NHS have skyrocketed: the implementation of the Act itself has cost the taxpayer some £3 billion. When the Prime Minister took office in 2010 he inherited a health system where patient satisfaction was at all-time high, but as today's newspaper headlines starkly show, he has squandered this legacy: the NHS recorded its worst ever performance figures in January of this year.
Quite rightly, ever since this Act was passed there have been a number of attempts, mostly by Labour MPs, to repeal the harmful elements of this legislation. The NHS Reinstatement Bill is another such attempt, and many Parliamentarians have tried to get it passed into law. This is the second such attempt to secure its passage, and I regret given there is a Tory majority in the Commons, it will be voted down by Conservative MPs.
I would have attended the debate at Second Reading tomorrow, but I am afraid that I have a number of prior commitments in the diary which mean that regrettably, I will not be able to make it. I am holding my constituency surgery at JW3 Community Centre tomorrow morning – this surgery has been scheduled for more than a month. In the afternoon, I will be speaking at an event to encourage more women into politics at the Women of the World Festival (see: wow.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/how-get-elected-1785). Were it not for these diary commitments, I would certainly have stood up to be counted on the day of the vote.
In any event, however, the only way we can secure the reforms our NHS needs is by unseating this Tory Majority Government. Last May, I stood on a Labour Manifesto which promised to repeal the Health and Social Care Act and to abolish the rules which force NHS commissioners to put contracts out to private tender. We would also have reversed the provisions which permit hospitals to earn up to 49% of their income from private patients. I still remain firmly committed to these principles, and I will take every opportunity as your MP to implement the change we need to save our health system.
Nevertheless, I do appreciate you drawing this debate to my attention, and I can only reiterate my full agreement with your concerns about the Health and Social Care Act.
Thank you again for getting in touch, and please do write back if you have any further queries.
Best wishes,
Tulip Siddiq MP
Labour Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn
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