Monday 4th March 2013
I have added my signature to Early Day Motion 1104, set down by Labour leader Ed Miliband in Parliament, to stop Government plans to privatise the NHS.
New regulations introduced last month by Government Ministers could force doctors to open up the NHS to the private sector, leading to fears that services could become fragmented.
This is despite promises given to clinicians and MPs during the Health and Social Care Bill’s passage through the House of Commons that there would be no push towards competition.
It is disgraceful that despite all their assurances the Government is hell-bent on privatising the NHS. They have lied to the doctors whose job it is to commission services by forcing them to put services out to tender.
By trying to sneak in these regulations by using a Statutory Instrument instead of the legislation debated in Parliament it shows just how far they are willing to go to wreck the NHS.
To the dozens of people who have written to me on this issue, let me be clear: I will fight, together with my colleagues in the Labour Party, to have these regulations removed immediately and to save our NHS.
Monday 4th March 2013
Thanks to everyone who came out with me in Farnworth on Saturday afternoon. It was great to spend time talking to local residents about David Cameron’s millionaires tax cut. A lot of people told me how badly the bedroom tax is going to affect them when it comes into force. I’ll continue to campaign on [...]
Friday 1st March 2013
David Cameron has plans to impose a £180 ‘Mummy Tax’ on working women at the same time as slashing £100,000 from the tax bill of millionaires.
1,679 new mums in Bolton South East this year will want a Government that is on their side. But while David Cameron promised he would lead the most family-friendly Government [...]
Friday 1st March 2013
The government has announced it will cut housing benefit for people with a spare room in their social or council let home, despite the DWP impact assessment acknowledging that there is a shortage of smaller properties for tenants to move to.
The measure will cost an estimated 660,000 people an average of £728 per year. Disabled [...]
Friday 1st March 2013
The 2010 general election campaign was one of the most divisive in British history but there was one area of broad agreement between the three main parties: international aid.
All three main parties committed themselves in their manifestos to Labour’s target of spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Overseas Development Assistance and [...]