Brown uses NHS to drive wedge between Labour and Tory policy
Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will campaign to bring wayward Labour votes back into the fold by restating the Government’s commitment to the broad principles of universal free health care.
Mr. Brown yesterday told the Transport and General Workers Union TGWU conference that the Tories were formulating radical plans to dismantle the post-Second World War consensus on Britain’s NHS.
The Tories were contemplating cutting NHS funding by more than £2bn, he claimed.
Labour, he pledged, will abide by the principle of public health care for all, a move to distinguish itself from the apparent Tory policy of more privatisation.
In the run to the next general election, and with Labour neck and neck with the Conservatives in the polls, the Chancellor will use the party’s stance on the NHS to reassure disillusioned voters.
He told union delegates: “Never let it be said by anyone of political parties that they are all the same; that voting is a waste of time; that there are no big choices left; that politics is no longer a clash of ideals; that there are no causes for which to struggle.
“This is a fundamental issue for our society, what we say and do about the NHS is not just about the future of our public services, but about the character of our country.”
Mr Brown attacked Tory plans to introduce so-called “patients’ passports”, an idea to subsidise the cost of private health care.
Moreover, he tried to reassure union members that the creation of foundation hospitals did not mean the NHS was now destined to travel down the irresistible road to private health care and a two-tier service.
Gordon Brown is to chair the election strategy committee. Joining him will be Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Ian Mc-Cartney, Labour party chairman, and understudy Douglas Alexander.
Shadow Chancellor Michael Howard dismissed Mr Brown’s interpretation of Tory policy as “lies.”
