Doctors for the NHS are asking people to write to their local press to try to stop the government from removing a vital piece of legislation that would protect the NHS from hostile trade negotiations. Because taking this government at its word is foolish.
DFNHS is adding its voice to that of Keep Our NHS Public and We Own It in making the call. KONP said:
‘Dear Colleagues,
The Trade Bill Report Stage will return to the House of Lords on 6 January 2021.
This means that, in theory, the Bill could return to the Commons as early as 7 January, although we cannot be certain of that date at this stage.
We are asking you to consider sending letters to the local press, as part of the campaign to bring to the attention of the general public the threat to the NHS from this Bill, and to persuade MPs to vote for the two important amendments to the Bill, namely:-
– to keep the NHS out of all trade deals
– to give MPs the power to scrutinise and vote on all trade deals before they are finalised.’
The government are likely to say the clause is ‘not needed’ because they would ‘never make the NHS part of any trade deal’. Really? The same government who promised us a ‘world-beating’ Test and Trace system for England, only to give this to private companies who have since failed on every measure – at a cost of billions to the taxpayer? The same government that appealed to us all to stay put, only to let its Chief Advisor off the hook completely when he took a 300 mile round trip to avoid the pandemic? The same government that rashly promised us a 5-day Christmas break, only to shut that down with less than 2 days’ notice after many had spent money on food and many traders had bought in stock they then could not sell? Just how much should we trust this government not to sell of our NHS when it suits its purposes?
Stop the clause removal. Protect the NHS – for real.
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