Judith Jarvis Thomson was a titan in analytical philosophy supporting abortion, yet even she probably wouldn’t have supported this amendment.
Labour have chosen the union over the patient, the paymaster over the public, the path of least resistance over the demands of responsible government. Under a Conservative government NHS doctors will no longer have the right to strike.
The public has become immune to the new Labour spin Streeting personifies. When he took office, 41 per cent of the public thought Labour was best placed to run the NHS. Today, just 19 per cent say the same. It’s up to the Conservatives to hold him to account.
The question now is whether policymakers are willing to respond. For those shaping education policy, this is not simply a challenge. It is an opportunity to rebuild a system that young people can trust again.
We need an open debate about how much these pensions are costing the taxpayer, otherwise our children and grandchildren – probably on far less generous pension schemes themselves – will pay the price for £1.4 trillion worth of political convenience today.
The scheme risks further diluting the NHS’s performance, introducing a new layer of bureaucracy, and undermining our democratic choices about how money is spent. Services are best when they are focused – not when they are trying to do everything.
Our political class is paralysed because the wider nation has not yet decided in what direction it wishes to be led.
Labour likes to boast about falling NHS waiting lists, but the Health Service is actually treating fewer people.
The Bill contains an implementation clause that allows the Health Secretary to decide when its main provisions take effect. In plain terms, it can be switched on when it suits the Government—and held back when it does not.
The government’s lack of legal clarity costs taxpayers. By May 2025, only part way though the Peggie hearing, NHS Fife had racked up £220k in legal fees. It”s time public sector bosses were personally liable for such egregious wastes of public money
Delayed discharge is not unsolvable. It’s the product of misplaced priorities and a lack of political will. Scotland’s patients deserve better than broken promises. Our Fast Track to Care proposal will free up desperately needed hospital capacity, quickly and safely.
There is a cliché about politicians getting their hands on the levers of power and finding them not connected to anything. But the true power of a politician is language. It’s about using words to change the perception of what is important.
Conservatives must be even bolder if we want to prevent an electoral wipeout, by further recognising and targeting the scale of the inefficiency problem.
If it is to succeed, the union must show where the money will come from without overburdening taxpayers. It must combine principle with political judgement, build strategic alliances, and make its case through astute strategy rather than spectacle and disruption – being more Caesar than Spartacus in its approach.
A Welsh Conservative Government would immediately declare a health emergency and require every part of government to work on solving the endemic health crisis.