Miliband to force NHS U-turn?

The government will be forced into a U-turn over its sweeping plans to reform the NHS, Ed Miliband will predict today. He will tell the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, that the backlash which forced a climbdown over the sale of England’s public forests will be dwarfed by protests over proposals to hand 80 per cent of the health budget to GPs. The Labour leader will say: “I warn David Cameron: the ill-feeling he created over the forests will be as nothing compared to the real anger that will build about his dangerous plans. The NHS is too precious for experiments in right-wing ideology.” – the Independent

The outcry over the proposal to transfer all of the nation’s woodlands out of public control led to a rapid reverse from ministers earlier this week, in a move which was described as “humiliating” for the Government. In a speech to Labour’s Welsh conference, Mr Miliband will predict that the forthcoming NHS reorganisation, which will see most of the health budget handed to individual GPs, would be greeted with an even greater response from voters. He will say: “I warn David Cameron and the Government: the ill-feeling he created over the forests will be as nothing compared to the real anger that will build about his dangerous plans for the NHS. Just like they wanted to sell off the forests to highest bidder, now they want health care sold to the lowest bidder. Some things are just too precious to be left to the market. The NHS is too precious for ill-judged reforms. It is too precious for experiments in right-wing ideology. Will these Tories never understand – health care is not a commodity to be bought and sold.” – Daily Telegraph (more…)