This week we saw the clearest evidence yet that Theresa May and the Tories are failing our health service. At a time when the National Health Service is facing the biggest financial difficulties in its history, the Tory government has chosen not to invest a single penny extra into the NHS or social care in its autumn statement. This was a disastrous decision which continues the Tories’ consistent failure to tackle the funding crisis they have created in our health service.
The Tories have plunged social care into a crisis by cutting £4.5bn from its budget, and they oversee an NHS which is brought to its knees by underfunding. Every year, every month, every day, voices across this country have called on the government to address the mess they have created. That is why before the autumn statement, Labour set out a simple test for the government: that we must give our health service extra investment to help tackle the crisis it is facing.
It is shocking that despite all outcry and warnings, Philip Hammond delivered an autumn statement that failed this simple test. It shows that the government is consciously underfunding our health service, ignoring the voices of experts and those working in the NHS and social care.
The Tories have failed the NHS. Patients are facing longer waits, with hospitals overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded. At the same time the government seems to have no trouble finding money to introduce new grammar schools. May and the Tories might talk of a ‘country that works for everyone’, but this shows you all you need to know about their priorities. They have no answers to the challenges we face other than taking the country backwards.
It is now more important than ever for us to elect a Labour government that will stand up for the NHS. We will always give the NHS the money it needs and will join up services from home to hospital with a properly integrated health and social care service. We will prioritise preventative services to stop problems from developing in the first place. And rather than ignore the voices of health experts and hardworking doctors and nurses, we will value and support NHS staff to deliver high quality care for patients.
The NHS is too precious to be left to wither on the vine by the Tories. Labour will always fight for it. So on Saturday we will be taking this message out to our communities, campaigning in streets and communities as part of a national campaign day. I will be campaigning across Doncaster, Leeds, Sheffield and Derby. Entitled #CareForTheNHS the day will see Labour saying loud and clear that we believe in the NHS. Tweet you campaign photos and tag me, I will retweet the best ones.
The NHS has cared for all of us and we must care for it.
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Jonathan Ashworth MP is shadow health minister. He tweets at @JonAshworth
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New Labour were agging to flog off bits of our NHS and promised to be “tougher on welfare than the Tories”. No wonder they were such an electoral turn-off!
Let’s get behind our new leader!