NHS privatisation is getting more and more oxygen in election conversations. A Conservative NHS group is calling for private wings in hospitals. [1] Reform UK is pushing private vouchers for NHS patients. [2] And Labour is doubling down on its plan to use the private sector to cut the backlog. [3]
This week more than 52,000 people told us their feelings on the issue in a survey. A whopping 97% of us say keeping it free at the point of use is crucial. But the more that our NHS is put into private hands, the greater the risk that charges for healthcare start sneaking in over time. We can’t sit back and let that happen.
The future of our NHS is one of THE biggest topics for all parties on the campaign trail – and will be a top priority for the next government. So it’s crucial we seize this moment to make our voices heard. A petition, signed by thousands of us, demanding the next Government commit to NO healthcare charges for anyone will pressure the next Prime Minister to put patients before profit and fix our NHS.
So David, will you add your name to urge the next Government to uphold the principle that our NHS will always be free at the point of use, for everyone? Use the button to sign with one click. You can read the petition text below:
To: All political parties in WestminsterThe NHS MUST remain free at the point of use, with no charges for healthcare – anytime, anywhere. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, for all of us who need it. If you form the next government you must commit to upholding this principle.
Some say that using privatisation could help drive down waiting lists. [4] But others think it could open the door to even more. [5] The bottom line is, the long-term solution to the crisis we’re in is a properly-funded and resourced NHS – not selling it off and leaving patients up and down the country to foot the bill. We ALL have a right to free healthcare – and our Government must protect it.
Agree, David? Sign the petition today to urge the next Government to put patients before profit and maintain free healthcare for all, forever – and properly fix our NHS.
Tash, David, Megan, Jonathan and the 38 Degrees team’
Reform’s idea of giving people vouchers to pay for NHS treatment sounds like a version of the scheme Pinochet introduced into Chile’s school system on the advice of Milton Friedman and the Chicago boys. It was also being pushed over here by certain Tufton Street thinktanks during Thatcher’s reign of iniquity, when it was taken up by Anne Soper of the SDP. The idea was that people were given these vouchers, which they could use to pay for state education or on private school fees. Guy Debord’s Cat, the French philosophical feline, has a long and very informative piece on how this policy did the precise opposite of what was intended and wrecked Chile’s schools. I gather the same idea is now being pushed by a section of the American Republican party, presumably aimed at affluent Whites worried about their kids being indoctrinated with radical LGBTQ+ and gender ideology and Critical Race Theory. If implemented in the Land of the Free, the results would be no different than down in Chile. And if introduced into our NHS, the results would be similarly catastrophic. If people want to go private, fine, but they shouldn’t expect the state to pay for it.
Today marks eight years since Britain’s fateful vote to leave the EU. So, what has Brexit brought us?
Well, we can easily see what it DIDN’T bring us. It didn’t bring a boost to our economy (quite the opposite). It didn’t bring a reduction in migration (again, quite the opposite). It didn’t deliver a rich revenue stream for our NHS. And it didn’t make life better for those in our poorest communities.
What it DID bring was political polarisation, social media manipulation, unscrupulous campaign finance and more dishonest politicians. All these forces, that continue to undermine our political system, were thrown into sharp relief on the 23 June 2016.
Perhaps the most significant thing the Brexit referendum revealed was the irreconcilable divisions within the Conservative Party, divisions which have persisted and which are at the root of the total implosion we’re witnessing now. The lines crossed by radicalised Brexiteers during and after the referendum destroyed the trust and integrity on which our political system has traditionally relied and made reconciliation with the moderate One Nation wing impossible.
Cambridge Analytica showed us the raw power of amoral, data-driven ad campaigns. The marriage of big tech and psychoanalytics, wheeled out for an early test run in 2016, would fundamentally change the nature of political campaigns around the world. It’s a simple model: use social media platforms to find out what messaging motivates people to act, and then serve it up to them regularly and in huge quantity…even if it’s untrue.
Dirty cash became a significant player in our political system. It filled the coffers of the various Leave campaigns, much of it from billionaires of the American right and Russian oligarchs. Political donations – and the electoral victories they purchased – were wielded as a geopolitical weapon, as well as a means to further enrich an international elite.
Brexit also introduced a blatant dishonesty that was to remain a fixture of British politics for years to come. (There has always been an element of dishonesty in politics but Brexit turbocharged it.) £350 million for the NHS on the side of a bus. Different Leave campaigns all promising different things (despite the vote being a simple yes or a no). Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson claiming we needed to leave the EU because Turkey was joining. (Eight years later, Turkey STILL isn’t a member of the EU.)
Brexit was not a fluke or an aberration. It was the canary in the coal-mine, an early warning of the political chaos awaiting us in the late 2010s and early 2020s. It was a clear sign that our politics was malfunctioning badly…that we had a broken system delivering broken results.
Now, it’s almost routine for politicians to tell blatant lies in order to secure our votes. It’s seen as normal that the wealthiest in our society (and abroad) get direct access to government ministers while ordinary people are left without a voice at the table. Most people barely bat an eyelid at the utter bilge that oozes from our disreputable media or the dirty tricks of big tech. Brexit marked the beginning of this post-truth, post-fairness democracy.
Most worryingly of all is that, eight years on, we haven’t addressed any of those underlying problems. Westminster continues to fester. The populists and the charlatans are more emboldened now than ever.
We need to use this anniversary of Brexit as a reminder that system change is needed, desperately and urgently. None of this is to say that we should seek to relitigate the Brexit referendum or waste valuable time and energy seeking to turn back the clock. Simply, this is about addressing the failures that brought us here so that disasters of the magnitude of Brexit – or even worse – cannot happen in the future.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
All the best
Mark Kieran
CEO, Open Britain’
I’d forgotten about Farage and Johnson trying to scare people into voting for Brexit with the story that Turkey was about to join the EU. They claimed that when this happened, all 70 million of them, or whatever the country’s population was, would up and avail themselves of the EU’s constitutional right to freedom of movement across borders and flood into Europe and Britain. It hasn’t happened. I got the impression that the majority of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants to this country came instead from Africa and the various countries in the Middle East suffering from war and poverty, like Syria. But not Turkey.
The Brexit line that the £350 million this country contributed annually to the EU would be spent instead on the NHS was another lie, courtesy of Boris Johnson. When it became obvious this was so, BoJob went off spluttering that the slogan, plastered all over the sides of buses, was merely about the kind of thing the contribution could be spent on instead, and not specifically about the NHS. And then, a few years after that, when Johnson had got his backside into 10 Downing Street and wanted to hype up some enthusiasm for Brexit, he revived the lie about spending the contribution on the NHS all over again. It’s like he’s a pathological liar, although I gather that these individuals genuinely believe the lies they tell. Johnson just lies.
And now we’ve got Reform rising again in the polls and Farage and Tice hoping to take over from the Tories as the country’s opposition against Starmer. Part of Reform’s line is that Brexit hasn’t really happened, because we are still bound to the EU by certain international agreements. Ben Habib went very deeply into them in a video of their annual conference that they stuck up on the Net. It all sounds very convincing until you realise that if we’re still stuck with these conventions, it’s probably because we need them to keep on trading in some way with the European Union, and that leaving or breaking them would probably be even more disastrous for the economy.
Our agriculture has been severely damaged, and Liz Truss’ attempt to tell us all that it was somehow a great benefit was frankly farcical. Oh, look! She’d done an export deal to send to cheese to Japan, where most of the country is lactose intolerant. As for industry, as an example of the problems it was causing some of Britain’s businesspeople, I found a video the other day on YouTube. It was of a guitar manufacturer over here stating what whereas you could export the instruments to the continent in one day, now it takes three weeks. What happened to all the rhetoric about how once we left the EU, all the bureaucracy stifling our exports could be ditched? That was all lies and propaganda too.
And I expect all the lies and nonsense about how wonderful Brexit is or will be, once it’s done, will be revived, recycled and used all over again as Farage and Tice overtake the Tories and take on Labour.
I found this on YouTube this morning, and it shows some of the other nastier policies Farage supports which tend to get ignored in the concentration on his opposition to immigration. In this video someone draws Farage’s face on the sand on Blackpool beach with the slogan ‘Nigel Farage: Friend of Putin, Enemy of the NHS’, to coincide with Farage’s visit to Lancashire’s most famous holiday resort. Over this footage there’s what sound like the Red Army choir singing the Russian national anthem and recordings of Farage saying that the world leader he most admires is Putin as an operator. He goes on to say he wants to move NHS funding to an insurance based system like America, because he’d have more confidence his money was working through a market-led insurance company.
I’ve been saying that Farage really wants to privatise the NHS for years, and this is pretty much proof. And if Reform and the Tories did privatise it, or Starmer, come to that, treatment would very definitely no longer be free at the point of use. It would become very expensive, and for many people, unaffordable. Like America, tens of thousands of people would die because they could not afford their medical care, and people would be forced to go bankrupt because of the cost of their medical treatment. But never mind, it would all mean more profits for the private medical companies behind privatisation, the corporations that have donated £175,000 to Labour’s Wes Streeting.
As for Farage’s admiration for Putin, it’s important to note that he qualifies his comment about admiring the post-Soviet strongman by stating that it’s ‘as an operator’. But Open Britain has also accused Richard Tice of wanting Britain to join Belarus and Russia in the war in Ukraine. Which is as silly as the 1980s political satire Whoops Apocalypse, which had a mad Prime Minister, played by Peter Cook, who believed that inflation was caused by the fairies. In one episode, Britain joined the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet counterpart to NATO.
Farage appears to be defending the working class with his loud opposition to mass migration and the Channel Migrants, carefully framed as a defence of ordinary working White Brits against foreigners taking jobs away from them while getting housing and welfare benefits that are unavailable to them. He claims to be the outsider, anti-establishment candidate. In fact, he is the establishment to the core. And if he is elected, he will take more welfare benefits away from them, and destroy the NHS.
Don’t be taken in by the establishment parties. Look for independent candidates and the other, smaller parties like the Greens who truly represent you.
On 5 July we will have a new government. The following day we will be on the streets of London demanding an end to the genocide and to the arming of Israel. We must let the new occupants of Downing Street know that we have not gone away.
Both the Tories and Labour have failed to avert the disaster in Gaza. Whoever wins on 4 July must be held to account. This is why it is so important that as many as possible join us in Central London on Saturday 6 July to call on our new representatives to condemn
Israel’s genocide and end arms sales to Israel. We must demand the new government push for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Please help us build for the biggest possible demo. Leaflets are available to collect from the Stop the War office. Let us know if you can help with leafleting and if you can organise leafleting sessions in your area.
We also urge all our supporters to put on transport to the demo, and spread the word far and wide on social media
27 June – Workplace Day of Action: Don’t Vote for Genocide
We’re in the throes of a general election and Israel’s continued genocide in Gaza is very much on the ballot paper. UK arms sales to Israel, the continuing war in Ukraine, the drive for more military spending, and the increasingly dangerous world we live in must all be central to the campaign.
Solidarity with Gaza is key to defeating the warmongers’ agenda so we’ve called aWorkplace Day of Action on Thurs 27 June to raise the anti-war voice in the run up to the election. We’re encouraging all our activists and local groups to get involved on the day by joining or organising their own local action or protest.
Stop the War urges voters in Islington North, to vote for Jeremy and ensure his return to parliament as a champion of their community, and, for those fighting for peace and justice around the world.
Are you able to help Stop the War’s support for Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign on the ground? We are be organising teams of StW supporters to join Team Corbyn as they go out and canvas for Jeremy’s campaign.
The sessions will be running throughout the day, every day of the week so if you are free to get involved please get back to us and we’ll send over times and meeting points. If you can’t get to London but would still like to help out we can also send you remote phone banking details.
Yesterday the Torygraph put up an article on various countries around the world equipping their armies with robot dogs, one of which is now Britain. These robots are themselves fitted out with guns and other weapons. The article comes after a piece a few days ago reporting that Ukraine has set up a special department of its military to manage drone warfare. We really are on the verge of A.B.C. warfare, as depicted in 2000 AD, where wars have become too hot for humans and are being fought by robots instead. Except that these machines don’t have the intelligence and humanity of the A.B.C. Warriors’ Hammerstein.
The article, by Ed Cummings, begins
‘How killer robot dogs could become weapons of mass destruction
Of all the inventions in the dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror, perhaps none is more terrifying than the robotic guard dogs in Metalhead. In the episode, from the fourth series of the programme in 2017, Maxine Peake plays Bella, a woman who, along with two companions, breaks into a remote warehouse to look for medicine. Instead, she finds an autonomous “dog”, armed with a shotgun, knives and shrapnel sprays. It quickly kills both of her colleagues and chases Bella over the moorland with ruthless single-mindedness. The film is a chilling vision of machines programmed to do one thing only. The dog does not think or feel; it just kills.
Such machines are no longer fantasy. Last month, it was disclosed that United States Marines special operators were testing robotic dogs armed with guns based on sentry automatic machine guns. Robotic quadrupeds have become increasingly common across the US military in recent years, for everything from bomb disposal to perimeter patrols, but arming them is a newer development.
Not to be outdone, three weeks later, the Chinese military released a YouTube video showing its own four-legged robot, armed with an assault rifle, working alongside its soldiers on exercises. “It can serve as a new member in our urban combat operations,” one soldier says in the video, while the footage shows the rifle firing off bursts, “replacing our members to conduct reconnaissance and identify [the] enemy, and strike the target.” The film makes it clear why such a robot might be useful, able to run into dangerous situations ahead of human soldiers. In another video, an army of similar machines does press-ups in sync.
Britain has its own initiative, too. It has been testing Boston Dynamics’s “Spot” quadruped as well as Ghost Robotics’s Vision 60 for future use alongside ground troops. Speaking about the V60, Dave Swan, the lead engineer of FCG Expeditionary Robotics Centre of Expertise, said the “quadruped offers increased situational awareness for soldiers on the ground”, with the “potential to act as the eyes and ears for soldiers on the front line”. With a gun on its back, however, one of these machines becomes more than a sensor array.
“Trials have previously taken place with robotic dogs,” said a Ministry of Defence spokesman, exploring “the potential they hold for delivering mission-critical supplies, scoping out hazardous areas, or performing combat tasks that are deemed too dangerous for humans.
The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have proved that wars will increasingly be fought by unmanned machines. “Too dangerous for humans” might justify any number of robot uses. Drones have been a decisive presence on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, mostly in the air. There is no shortage of footage of deadly, remote-controlled drones trundling across fields towards tanks and armoured personnel carriers, before delivering decisive blows. In Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli forces have been using quadruped robots to clear tunnels and other cramped locations. Several units have reportedly been equipped with a drone, named the Rooster, housed inside a wheeled cage on their back. The drone is thought to be able to move on the ground and “jump” over obstacles if required.’
The article mentions that Boston Dynamics, one of the companies that first developed robot dogs, wrote an open letter with five other similar companies a year or so ago announcing that they would not arm their machines. Kudos and respect to them. And I also recall that when one company announced it would develop war robots back in the 90s or turn of the century, scientists were so appalled by the prospect and the possibility that this could lead to our extinction as a species by intelligent machines that there was indeed a chorus of disapproval. The robotics scientist at Reading University, Kevin Warwick, was so frightened by the prospect of robots and computers outstripping humanity in intelligence and other abilities and taking over and enslaving us, that he became depressed and turned to cyborgisation instead.
But the world seems to be developing these machines apparently regardless for humanity’s security and future on this planet.
For further information see: The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have proved that wars will increasingly be fought by unmanned machines. “Too dangerous for humans” might justify any number of robot uses. Drones have been a decisive presence on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, mostly in the air. There is no shortage of footage of deadly, remote-controlled drones trundling across fields towards tanks and armoured personnel carriers, before delivering decisive blows. In Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli forces have been using quadruped robots to clear tunnels and other cramped locations. Several units have reportedly been equipped with a drone, named the Rooster, housed inside a wheeled cage on their back. The drone is thought to be able to move on the ground and “jump” over obstacles if required.
Just two weeks to go – Here’s what you need to know.
There’s an old adage that polls always tighten on the cusp of an election. But Rishi Sunak seems to be doing everything in his power to prevent it from happening.
Once again mired in scandal, this time members of the Prime Ministers inner circle are rumoured to have placed bets on the election date – potentially a violation given their insider knowledge. Not only that, the Tories – according to @tomorrowsmps on Twitter – are hedging their bets and conceding seats across the country, focusing resources just on the “winnable” ones.
Ironically the sitting Prime Minister, for the first time in British history, could lose his seat at this election. It would be a historic moment.
But maybe the adage about polls closing in does contain a kernel of truth. It’s just that Sunak’s Conservatives are no longer the real opposition. The political right’s centre of gravity in Britain has shifted, thanks to the populism and nativism of our recent governments, over to Farage and Tice’s camp. Reform is the one closing in.
Regardless of what happens, the scene is set for a truly mad election. We’ll be enjoying the righteous downfall of a government that subverted democracy at every turn – but also looking beyond July 4th to ensure democracy is safeguarded in future
In other news…
Labour’s local party chair in Islington North has been forced to resign after secretly campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn’s independent campaign following his expulsion from the party.
According to The Times (take with a grain of salt), Nigel Farage is predicted to sweep Clacton with 42% of the vote – one of the biggest swings in electoral history.
Boris Johnson has reportedly bailed on his plans to rejoin the Conservative ranks, probably after it became clear the party is barreling towards a historic defeat. He’s going on holiday (again) instead.
All the very best,
The Open Britain Team‘
Okay, the news that the local party chair in Islington North has been sacked for secretly campaigning for Corbyn comes after a piece KernowDamo put up yesterday reporting that the Labour party chair has urged people to vote Green. And it really is a massive piece of right-wing Labour hypocrisy to sack the Islington North chair so many of them were actively plotting and campaigning against Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election.
As for the Times article predicting a win for Farage in Clacton, there have been a number of videos put up by right-wingers about the Labour candidate. He’s a smartly-dressed Black bloke who went to Goldsmith’s College, but they’ve accused him of anti-White racism. While he was there he put up a Tweet agreeing with another Black that his favourite drink was White tears. He also asked why there weren’t any Black philosophers on his philosophy course. This is another example, of course, of the internet never forgetting, and it’s possible now that he’s a few years older that he may have changed his mind. Either way, his right-wing opponents have made much that he’s been selected for Clacton, with is 93 per cent White. I think there might be some resentment among aspiring Black and Asian politicos that they are only chosen to represent Black and Asian constituencies, hence the Black chap’s selection for Clacton. I can remember reading a letter in the Daily Mail by two Black women at the 2004 election complaining about this issue, and telling White voters ‘We can represent you’. Except that in this case, the implication here is that Labour’s lad for Clacton with his college animus against Whites can’t.
As for Johnson bailing out of a planned return to lead the Tories to victory out of the jaws of defeat, I’m not surprised he’s run away. Johnson always struck me as a gross opportunist interested in his own aggrandisement. When he was PM he spent his time campaigning and not actually doing the work of government. And if things got embarrassing with the Fourth Estate, he headed off to a handy refrigerator to hide in.
I’ve certainly sent the emails to my local election candidates informing them that £10 million has been taken in profits each week from the NHS since 2012. My problem with this is that not only are the mainstream parties such as Labour and the Tories perfectly happy with outsourcing and privatisation, they see the state sector as a further lucrative source of profit and so wish to expand its privatisation further. This has nothing to do with serving the public or improving healthcare, as the Blairites in the Labour party and the Tories claim. It’s all about corporate profit, which is why private healthcare companies have been lobbying and donating £175,000 to Wes Streeting. And it’s why Nigel Farage wants to transform the NHS to the French system of healthcare.
‘Dear David,
£10 million!
That is how much the NHS loses to profits EVERY WEEK as a result of outsourcing, according to our new research.
Over 450 candidates have already pledged to oppose NHS outsourcing if elected.
But to have a big impact in your fight against NHS outsourcing, all candidates need to see the evidence.
This analysis includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so wherever you live in the UK, can you take just 2 minutes to send our research to your local candidates now?
We did this research because the public needs to know how much the NHS is losing to profits due to outsourcing.
And our finding is already beginning to have an impact.
Over 600,000 people have already seen this research on social media – and so many people are talking about it.
It has been covered in the Morning Star newspaper.
And Carol Vorderman has shared and backed it on social media.
We know 76% of the public already oppose NHS privatisation, but this research can get more politicians on your side.
All candidates – future MPs – need to know that outsourcing is a wasteful way to spend NHS money. The more of them see it, the more will stand up against NHS outsourcing in parliament.
Please take 2 minutes to send it to your parliamentary candidates now.
Yesterday, Farage and Tice unveiled Reform UK’s “contract” – the euphemism they’re using for their party manifesto. Of course, the document is still structured exactly like a typical party manifesto, and while “contract” implies a greater deal of accountability, the pair have not clarified whether it actually differs in any meaningful way.
The document began how we all expected – loads of nativist nonsense, blaming immigrants for the deep-rooted systemic problems plaguing the country and pledging to launch a series of culture war battles. Their pitch, at its core, is an “us vs them” narrative designed to demonise vulnerable people across Britain.
Reform highlighted their support for Proportional Representation and even House of Lords reform in the “contract”. A broken clock may be right once a day, but they’ve paired those objectives with plans to leave the ECHR and to impose a ban on postal voting for all but the elderly due to (non-existent) voter fraud. They also pledged to “end corruption” – though it’s not necessarily clear how.
Farage and Tice seem to understand the distrust and disillusion that many in Britain feel with our political system – and where some fight to fix it, they strive to profit from it. Farage himself has specialised in leveraging people’s frustrations for personal gain for years, to great success so far.
Farage’s pitch to “end the corruption of our government and politics by an out-of-touch, London-centric elite to make Britain a more democratic, accountable, and therefore more prosperous nation” may rightly appeal to some people. After all, that’s what we’ve been saying for years. Make no mistake though – he’s using our democracy as a prop.
We saw it before with Trump’s “Drain the Swamp”. These appeals to fairness, democracy, and justice are cynical ploys to win the votes of the (rightly) disaffected masses, not serious proposals for political change.
Ultimately, it’s crucial to recognise that Farage and Tice are exploiting legitimate grievances for their own political gain. Their so-called “contract” is a strategic move to manipulate public sentiment without offering genuine solutions. While their rhetoric may sound appealing to those frustrated with the current political system, their proposed measures, like leaving the ECHR and restricting postal voting, threaten to further erode our democratic foundations. It’s essential to look beyond their populist facade and scrutinise the real impact of their policies on the integrity of our democracy.
In other news…
Today is the LAST DAY to register to vote – you have until midnight. Get on it!
Farage has said that his “real ambition” is the 2029 general election, confirming what we’ve been saying for many months now.
Conservatives are now sending letters from Boris Johnson to “wavering” voters – an act of true desperation.
All the very best,
The Open Britain Team‘
There isn’t a lot I can add to this, except that the ‘Contract with Britain’ title seems to be taken from Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich’s ‘Contract with America’ of the early 90s. Farage has been one of Trump’s chums over the other side of the Atlantic, so it’s not really surprising his modelled his title on Gingrich’s oeuvre. Radio 4 laid into him a little while ago in the ’90s show about what was happening across the Atlantic, Postcard from Gotham. Someone from the Torygraph described Gingrich as sounding like an embittered chemistry teacher, which makes you wonder about the teachers in his old school. As for withdrawing from the European Court of Human Rights, this is no doubt framed as necessary to restore British sovereignty and allow us to get rid of unwanted immigrants, but it’ll go further and be used to strip native Brits of their rights. As for getting rid of postal votes, very many older and disabled people rely on those and I don’t know where his attitude that they’re being used for electoral fraud comes from. A few years ago – it may even be a couple of decades – Private Eye ran a story in their ‘Rotten Boroughs’ about massive voter fraud by Asian politicos in one of the northern cities, though I can’t remember which one. Since then I haven’t come across any more stories about stolen postal votes apart from the odd number – all of seven or so – Mike has put up on his blog, taken from official figures.
Farage’s attack on postal votes therefore looks to me very much like an attempt to strip the franchise from the elderly and disabled, who are unable to physically reach the polling station.
‘KARIN SMYTH AND CARLA DENYER CLASH OVER NHS FUNDING CLAIMS
Two Bristol candidates in the general election traded blows on the weekend over how to fix the NHS.
The health service will be one of the key issues for many voters in the upcoming election on July 4.
Karin Smyth, the incumbent candidate for Bristol South and Labour shadow health minister, claimed the Green Party’s investment plans were similar to Liz Truss’s infamous mini-budget.
The Greens want to increase NHS spending by an extra £28 billion by 2030.
She was joined on the BBC’s Politics West programme on June 16 by Carla Denyer, the Green candidate for Bristol Central and co-leader of the Green Party.
Denyer defended her party’s plans and claimed a Labour government would result in cuts to the health service.
Denyer said: “Did you see the Nuffield Trust assessment of the Labour and Conservative NHS investment plans? They said that both of them were unrealistic and would result in cuts, even related to the current spending. The Nuffield Trust has been clear that neither Labour nor the Conservatives are offering the investment needed.
“Our manifesto is fully costed and fully funded. The Green Party is the only party that is prepared to be honest in this election about the scale of investment that’s needed to fix our crumbling public services, whether it’s schools or NHS and social care. That’s by adjusting our tax system to make sure that those with the broadest shoulders can most afford to pay.”
The Nuffield Trust, an independent think tank, analysed both manifestos from Labour and the Conservatives.
The Trust found that the NHS would be left with lower spending increases than during the years of Tory austerity. This would leave the NHS struggling to pay existing staff costs, despite plans to increase the numbers of doctors and nurses.
According to the analysis, NHS funding would increase every year by 1.5 per cent under the Liberal Democrats, 0.9 per cent for the Conservatives, and 1.1 per cent for Labour.
The Labour Party is planning to invest £2 billion into the health service, paid for by “clamping down on tax dodgers”. Currently, the annual NHS budget for England is £165 billion.
Greens say they will push for a year-on-year reduction in waiting lists, guaranteed access to an NHS dentist, guaranteed rapid access to a GP, and a pay rise for NHS staff. They would spend an extra £8 billion in the first full year of the next parliament, rising to £28 billion in total by 2030. Part of their huge investment would be funded by a new wealth tax on assets over £10 million.
However, Smyth denied that the Greens’ manifesto was fully funded and costed. She also claimed the Green Party’s plans were similar to the Conservative mini-budget in 2022, which sparked a crisis in the bond market and led to a huge increase in interest rates and mortgage costs.’
Labour has announced some impressive plans, but I don’t trust them not to privatise the NHS. Tony Blair was in favour of more private provision in the health service and journalists have noticed that Labour has taken the slogan ‘The NHS Is Not For Sale Off its manifesto. And Wes Streeting has received £175,000 worth of donations from private healthcare companies. And there is the fact that you cannot trust anything that comes out of Starmer’s mouth. He makes and breaks promises as easily as some people breathe.
This is why I believe that only the Greens can be trusted with the NHS.
I found the plans discussed here by the Tories and Farage to be extremely worrying. Farage wants the NHS funded by private insurance, which means that all that’s needed is further privatisation and we end up with an American-style private healthcare system. I’ve taken this survey and made it clear that I oppose any NHS privatisation and am extremely worried about it.
‘David, have you seen this?
A Conservative NHS group is calling for private wings of hospitals. [1] Nigel Farage, who’s argued for funding our NHS through private insurance, is making a political comeback. [2] And with Labour saying “middle-class lefties” won’t stop Labour using the private sector to cut the backlog, the idea of privatising parts of our NHS is getting more oxygen. [3]
Some say that using sparing privatisation could help drive down waiting lists. [4] But others think that it would just open the door to even more. [5]
Either way, fixing our NHS will have to be at the top of the next Government’s agenda. So we want to know what 38 Degrees supporters think about bringing in the private sector to get NHS waiting times down – and privatisation in general. We’ve created a three minute survey to get a snapshot of what our community thinks – and if enough of us answer these quick questions, it’ll help us plan how we’ll protect our health service going forwards.
Here’s the first question to get you started: Do you think privatisation should play any role in fixing the NHS crisis?
38 Degrees supporters come from all walks of life, you could be someone stuck on a waiting list for treatment, or someone who works in our NHS, or someone who only uses private healthcare. While we might have different experiences, what unites us is a belief that we have a passion for this country and the things which make it great – like our NHS.
So as we get closer to the election, we want to hear directly from you: Do you think privatisation should play any role in fixing the NHS crisis?Once enough of us finish the survey, we’ll compile the results to decide how to keep fighting for our NHS together:
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