The Scottish Health Service won't be safe under an English Labour government
This was published in the December 19th edition of the Edinburgh Evening News. An English Labour government is the last thing Scotland needs.
English Labour’s shadow health spokesperson, Wes Streeting, said spending more on health comes at the expense of “other worthy causes” and that “under Labour you can have a well-funded NHS or you can lift kids out of poverty, but you can't have both."[1]
That’s a false choice. It implies that governments are limited in what they can spend to help their people. Taxpayers don’t fund the NHS, the government does. It CAN turn on the taps because it owns a central bank. As John Maynard Keynes said, “anything we can actually do, we can afford.”[2]
Second, not prioritising a nation’s health is foolish. For every pound a government spends on healthcare, £4 of economic activity is generated. Healthy people can work, employ others, buy goods and services and pay taxes.[3] It’s called the health multiplier. An unhealthy population can’t work, so unemployment and child poverty increase.
Third, Labour is partly responsible for the NHS crisis. Tony Blair expanded private finance initiatives (PFIs), an unnecessary and costly way to fund new hospitals. PFIs deliver risk-free returns for private investors but drain money from the NHS, pile up long-term debt, forcing the NHS to sell assets and close hospitals. Labour introduced private medical services to the NHS which increased costs and brought in Payment by Results, that helped private companies cherry-pick the easiest, most profitable treatments.[4] And it allowed NHS Trusts to become Foundation Trusts, arms-length businesses outside government control, that further entrenched commercial interests into the system.
Fourth, follow the money. English Labour politicians are increasingly funded by private health companies, which explains their enthusiasm for selling off the NHS. Ian Murray is the only MP in Scotland to have accepted private insurance money.[5]
To save its NHS, Scotland must end this failing union.
[2] https://gimms.org.uk/2023/04/13/keynes-wisdom-still-stands/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3849102/