The NHS is facing a £63bn bill for PFI hospitals which are only worth a fraction of that.
The NHS still owes £58bn on more than a hundred PFI contracts over the next three decades, and will have to pay back more than £7bn in PFI payments over the next Parliament alone (2010-2015).
This is the disastrous reality of Labour’s managemant of the NHS. We’re in one of the most difficult financial periods in the NHS’s history and this Government’s legacy will be a mountain of debt. Despite the huge sums of money we owe for these hospitals, many will never end up in public hands. Hospitals all over the country are mortgaged to the hilt and there are serious concerns that these repayments will lead to cuts in vital services.
We need a new approach to public services in this country. By setting up an infrastructure bank we Lib Dems will ensure that key projects get access to the funding they need to revitalise our economy.
We Lib Dems will change how the NHS works so that patients come first and money goes further.
Showing posts with label cuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cuts. Show all posts
Monday, 8 February 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Spending cuts should be based on economic indicators, not Tory dogma
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has produced a report today saying that there is still massive uncertainty over the outlook for the British economy.
It is critical that the Government has a plan to tackle the public finances which is flexible enough to adapt to the changing economic situation.
The IFS rightly points out that cutting spending further this year would be extremely dangerous given the weakness of the economy.
Not surprisingly, the Tories are now desperately trying to play down their desire to do just that.
When, and by how much, public spending needs to be cut must be based on economic indicators, not Tory political dogma.
It is critical that the Government has a plan to tackle the public finances which is flexible enough to adapt to the changing economic situation.
The IFS rightly points out that cutting spending further this year would be extremely dangerous given the weakness of the economy.
Not surprisingly, the Tories are now desperately trying to play down their desire to do just that.
When, and by how much, public spending needs to be cut must be based on economic indicators, not Tory political dogma.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Is Cameron really Winnie the Pooh?
A. A. Milne who created all the creatures of Hundred Acre Wood, seems to have been a prescient political commentator.
In The House at Pooh Corner written in 1928, we read the following exchange.
"I've got a sort of idea", said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's a very good one".
"I don't suppose it is either", said Eeyore.
Now all you have to do is replace Pooh with Cameron and Eeyore with the British electorate, and you'll see what I mean.
The poor man is desperately caught between saying what he thinks he needs to to get elected, and needing to say what he must to keep the rabid-right in his own party happy.
Actually, I've got it he's Edward Scissorhands good-looking misunderstood boy who has to "cut, cut, cut" despite himself.
In The House at Pooh Corner written in 1928, we read the following exchange.
"I've got a sort of idea", said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's a very good one".
"I don't suppose it is either", said Eeyore.
Now all you have to do is replace Pooh with Cameron and Eeyore with the British electorate, and you'll see what I mean.
The poor man is desperately caught between saying what he thinks he needs to to get elected, and needing to say what he must to keep the rabid-right in his own party happy.
Actually, I've got it he's Edward Scissorhands good-looking misunderstood boy who has to "cut, cut, cut" despite himself.
Saturday, 19 September 2009
O Captain! my Captain!
Just read a piece in today's Guardian about an interview with Nick Clegg where he is quoted as saying, "We will be quite bold or even savage on current spending, precisely to be able to retain spending where... the economy is weak in infrastructure".
The first part sent a chill, the second part soothed... a little!
I just wish he'd said "t'other way round" emphasise the need to invest in the public realm especially in the infrastructure.
Invest and re-animate the Building Schools for the Future programme which seems to have stalled over the past few years. So that, we can have not just hundreds, but thousands of new schools built and fit for purpose in the 21st century.
A massive house-building/home-improvement programme to ensure that we have green energy efficient homes for life.
A bold and imaginative investment in public transport, especially the railways so that we can catch up with the rest of Europe in high-speed trains, and encourage freight off the roads and on to the track.
There are so many other areas of investment needed that ONLY the state is capable of marshalling resources, remember Roosevelt's America of the 1930s?
I'm afraid that the debate about public spending is being hi-jacked by the Tories who wish to cut on ideological grounds, and Labour who are following meekly like the proverbial lambs to the slaughter.
We Lib Dems must show the way, rather than follow some mad Thatcherite agenda and try to out-macho on cuts the likes of Osborne and Darling.
The quote is from Walt Whitman and the second verse goes:
O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
The country is hungry for change, and only we Lib Dems can provide the vision, the values, and the vigour to lead the charge.
The first part sent a chill, the second part soothed... a little!
I just wish he'd said "t'other way round" emphasise the need to invest in the public realm especially in the infrastructure.
Invest and re-animate the Building Schools for the Future programme which seems to have stalled over the past few years. So that, we can have not just hundreds, but thousands of new schools built and fit for purpose in the 21st century.
A massive house-building/home-improvement programme to ensure that we have green energy efficient homes for life.
A bold and imaginative investment in public transport, especially the railways so that we can catch up with the rest of Europe in high-speed trains, and encourage freight off the roads and on to the track.
There are so many other areas of investment needed that ONLY the state is capable of marshalling resources, remember Roosevelt's America of the 1930s?
I'm afraid that the debate about public spending is being hi-jacked by the Tories who wish to cut on ideological grounds, and Labour who are following meekly like the proverbial lambs to the slaughter.
We Lib Dems must show the way, rather than follow some mad Thatcherite agenda and try to out-macho on cuts the likes of Osborne and Darling.
The quote is from Walt Whitman and the second verse goes:
O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
The country is hungry for change, and only we Lib Dems can provide the vision, the values, and the vigour to lead the charge.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Tory Millionaires
Last night I posted about how smug George Osborne looked telling the country that public spending would have to be cut.
Whilst I appreciate that Vince Cable has said that we have got to look at the future cost of public pensions, public sector pay, the welfare system, these are the big detail items that politicians are going to have to debate, it’s going to be painful but we’re going to have to discuss them.
I cannot abide a Tory Party that, if I remember correctly, has 19 millionaires out of a frontbench team of 23, wringing their hands in glee at the prospect of slash and burn being wrought on our public services.
These public services, whatever their faults, and there are many, are ultimately responsible and responsive to the democratic voice of the people. Whereas private organisations are ultimately only responsible to their shareholders and the bottom line, namely the profits and dividends they can pay out.
Let us not forget that whenever these mega-businesses begin to stumble and falter they are only to willing to ask, nay demand that the state that is you and me the ordinary tax-payer, bail them out, as we did with the banks earlier this year.
However, whenever the weakest need our help, the Tories treat them like lepers, calling them scroungers and demonising them to the nth degree and wanting to cut them off at the knees.
If only for that reason, I can never bring myself to support the Tories, and I concur wholheartedly with Nye Bevan in averring that "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin".
Whilst I appreciate that Vince Cable has said that we have got to look at the future cost of public pensions, public sector pay, the welfare system, these are the big detail items that politicians are going to have to debate, it’s going to be painful but we’re going to have to discuss them.
I cannot abide a Tory Party that, if I remember correctly, has 19 millionaires out of a frontbench team of 23, wringing their hands in glee at the prospect of slash and burn being wrought on our public services.
These public services, whatever their faults, and there are many, are ultimately responsible and responsive to the democratic voice of the people. Whereas private organisations are ultimately only responsible to their shareholders and the bottom line, namely the profits and dividends they can pay out.
Let us not forget that whenever these mega-businesses begin to stumble and falter they are only to willing to ask, nay demand that the state that is you and me the ordinary tax-payer, bail them out, as we did with the banks earlier this year.
However, whenever the weakest need our help, the Tories treat them like lepers, calling them scroungers and demonising them to the nth degree and wanting to cut them off at the knees.
If only for that reason, I can never bring myself to support the Tories, and I concur wholheartedly with Nye Bevan in averring that "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin".
Monday, 14 September 2009
Wise Spending?
I listened to Peter Mandelson's speech on the news and I'd like to see the government actually follow this up by commitments to scrap Trident, the ID cards, etc.
Where I do agree with him on is his analysis of the Tories' "thinly disguised zeal" for cuts.
I certainly don't want to go back to the 1980s and the "lost generation" of unemployed and the social and economic consequences that flowed therefrom.
Where I do agree with him on is his analysis of the Tories' "thinly disguised zeal" for cuts.
I certainly don't want to go back to the 1980s and the "lost generation" of unemployed and the social and economic consequences that flowed therefrom.
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