Hancock: Clegg should drop his support for the bill
Lib Dem councillors in Portsmouth, led by MP Mike Hancock, call on deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to drop his support for the health and social care bill:
"The political reality of the situation was that people have lost trust in this bill and to a certain extent us in supporting it and this gives political ammunition to the Labour party where we have no need to give them any ammunition.
"This is particularly the case given the strong campaign that the Liberal Democrats mounted for more spending on the NHS when Labour would only follow the previous Conservative government’s spending plans on it following their election in 1997.
"It would be disappointing now if the public did not think that we strongly valued and supported the NHS.
"We would therefore request that the party's line changes, as the political battle on this bill in the country has unfortunately been lost by the government.
"If, as ministers have said, that 80 per cent of things on this bill can happen without it then there appears to be no need for the bill."
