Lansley’s NHS bill attacked
EMBATTLED health secretary Andrew Lansley faced a barrage of criticism over his proposed NHS reforms yesterday, with a leading Liberal Democrat calling for him to step down in the near future.
Deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes said that Lansley should “move on” from his health role in the second half of the coalition’s parliamentary term.
Hughes sought to distance his party from the changes to the NHS, yet assured voters that the bill would be kicked into “better shape” by the House of Lords.
Labour’s Andy Burnham accused Prime Minister David Cameron of “putting his own political pride above the best interests of the NHS”.
And the bill was also attacked from Conservative quarters, with former Tory MP Paul Goodman writing on the Conservative Home website that it could create “an NHS Railtrack of new, overlapping and competing bureaucracies”.
Some Conservatives have called on the PM to amend the bill, yet Cameron has reiterated his determination to stick by the reforms. A poll conducted for City A.M. shows that 42 per cent agree with the PM, while 40 per cent think it should be delayed or scrapped.