Article for Friday 23rd July 2010 from Adrian Sanders MP

The NHS White Paper announced last week sets out the Coalition’s plans to make health outcomes for patients among the best in the world.

The reforms aim to improve the quality of the care patients receive. Instead of top down control and political targets the proposals will hand back power to patients and NHS professionals.

It could mean the abolition of Primary Care Trusts and I raised my concern that in Torbay we have a Care Trust that is doing much of what the reforms wish to achieve.  The Health Minister assured me that the Torbay model is one others could follow and he has indicated a keenness to visit and see for himself how well we do things.

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As the Finance Bill has progressed through Parliament Labour’s attacks have become more and more desperate.

Fairness underpins it with the richest contributing most to reduce the deficit, making it the most progressive Budget the country has seen for many years.

• Labour had no bank levy.  We’ve imposed a bank levy.
• Labour had a system where the richest paid lower tax rates than those who cleaned their offices.  We’ve raised Capital Gains Tax.
• Labour hit the lowest paid with the 10p tax fiasco.  We’re lifting 880,000 of the lowest paid out of tax altogether.
• Labour increased the pension by 75p.  We’re reintroducing the earnings link – something they didn’t do for 13 years.
• Under Labour child poverty was rising.   We’re making sure it doesn’t.

Most people have recognised the need to take urgent action to reduce the deficit, and while VAT rises are never welcome Lord Mandelson has revealed Labour would have raised VAT if they had won the election. 

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Finance Bills are one of the few times nowadays when business can run to any hour, so long as Members wish to continue debating.  The items announced in the Budget are broken down into different actions and published as a Bill that the whole House scrutinises. 

This can mean some late nights, and new MPs got their first taste of a proper late sitting recently when we went on until 2.30 in the morning.  Sadly a couple of them made the news for being a little worse for wear when it came to vote. 

You are not allowed to accuse another MP of being drunk and neither of the new MPs were in as bad a state as a former women MP I witnessed in my first term regularly being carried from the division lobby and placed onto the back seat of a taxi at the end of business.

Drinking while at work would not be tolerated in any other profession, perhaps it’s time we closed the bars during Finance Bills.

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Next surgeries: 

 Saturday 24th July, 10am to 11.30am, Swim Torquay, Marnham Road, Plainmoor, Torquay.  

Friday 30th July, 10.30am to 12pm, Age Concern, 4 Dendy Road, Paignton.  

No appointment necessary.  Advice line 200036.