I went out petitioning yesterday with Keep Our NHS Public and Stop the Cuts. Some 50 people showed up to help and within 3 hours we had gathered 2500 signatures against the innocuously-named Health and Social Care Bill. This is the legislation which will effectively hand NHS budgets to GP consortia and allow private companies to pick over our NHS.
It is always gratifying at an event like this when the people I don't know outnumber the people I do know, and this was certainly the case yesterday. This, and the sheer number of signatures, demonstrates the strength of feeling.
The Government has no mandate for these changes - the Tory manifesto said there would be no changes to the NHS. Shirley Williams' intervention at the weekend reveals the depth of the divisions in the coalition over Lansley's proposals.
Public pressure can stop the Tories in their tracks.
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