Save Our NHS: TUSC Parliamentary Letter

This letter was recently sent to a member of the Campaign Against NHS Privatisation by TUSC’sParliamentary Candidate for Leicester West, Heather Rawling.

Dear Campaign Against NHS Privatisation (Leicester),

Thank you for your enquiry re my position and the position of TUSC on the NHS.

TUSC is opposed to all cuts.

I am totally opposed to cuts in the NHS and believe that the money is available to fully fund the NHS so that it remains a free service to all from cradle to grave as originally intended.

I do not support the closure of over 500 beds in the NHS in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as planned in the Better Care Together Five Year Plan. I would be happy to support campaigns that opposed the closure of beds.

I am fundamentally opposed to privatisation in the NHS and oppose all forms of private practice within the NHS. The National Health Service should serve the people. Profit should not have any part of it. Profits take away resources from the sick and can adversely affect policy decisions.

I do not think that health care and market competition are compatible as market competition would detract from proper planning of the use of resources where they are most needed.

I believe it is possible to fully fund the NHS. It would cost £30 billion to plug the NHS funding gap.The Private Finance Initiative, supported by the other main parties, is starving the NHS of funds. The Independent on Sunday calculated that the UK ‘owes’ more than £222 billion to PFI companies across 720 PFIs – that amounts to £3,400 for every person in England. The Independent estimates that by 2049, the total PFI bill will be over £310 billion – more than four times the budget deficit. I am in favour of cancelling all PFI debts which would easily cover the funding gap.

We need more nurses. 280, 000 nurses, it has been estimated, would cost £980 million to fund. The profits of Care UK was £21 million in 2009; Capita £310 million in 2010; Blackstone private equity made £600 million on its 2006 sale of Southern Cross; Serco made £214 million in profit in 2014. I would support the ending of contracts with these companies and bringing the services they are meant to deliver back into the NHS. This would free up funding to pay our nurses.

I would also support the nationalisation of the big pharmaceutical companies under democratic workers control and management. This would include workers from the industry, the NHS as well as patients and representation from the general labour movement.

I am totally opposed to the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Treaty. It is a multi-billion dollar agreement between the US and EU guaranteeing access to public services for giant corporations to make vast profits – irrespective of the destructive impact on these services. It would spell disaster for the NHS.

I fully support the founding principles of the NHS: that the health service should be freely available to all. They are as relevant today as they were in 1948. It should be financed through taxation. I would support changes in taxation to ensure that the billionaires pay taxes that reflect their wealth so that the poor pay less in taxation.

I hope I have answered your thoughtful and important questions to your satisfaction.

Best wishes to your campaign,

Heather Rawling

Trades Unionist and Socialist Coalition Parliamentary Candidate for Leicester West