Wiltshire’s Liberal Democrat Councillors Back The NHS

Liberal Democrat Councillors on Wiltshire Council voiced their support for theNHS, by backing an Amendment at the Spring Liberal Democrat conference in Sheffield.

The Amendment, which was passed almost unanimously at last weekend's conference, sought to protect the NHS as it undergoes the government's reforms. At the Conference, the amendment ruled out price-competition, restored the NHS as preferred provider rather than private companies, and reduced the scope of many of the market-based reforms.

Lib Dem Group Leader, Jon Hubbard said: "Local constituents had raised concerns with many of our Councillors over the government NHS reforms, and many of us were uneasy with the apparent direction these reforms were taking."

Spokesperson for Health and Adult Social Care, David Jenkins, said: "Clearly the fate of the NHS affects us here in Wiltshire both as residents and as councillors. Unique to the Lib Dems is the ability for members to decide party policy, and the twice yearly conferences are the place to make that happen. The Amendment champions an issue of unique importance among the Liberal Democrats, localism, in that half of the members of the new commissioning consortiums must be local councillors appointed as non-executive directors. This will take power away from Labour's unaccountable Quangos to elected members, allowing people a real say in how their National Health Service is run

Jon Hubbard concluded: "As such, we asked Wiltshire's Lib Dem MP, Duncan Hames, to support the conference amendment, as well as the amendment calling for the reinstatement of the mobility allowance for disabled people"

"The Liberal Democrats are the party of the NHS, and many of these reforms did not feature in our election manifesto or in the agreed Coalition Programme, which instead called for an end to large-scale top-down reorganisations of the NHS."

NB: The text of the amendment is available here http://socialliberal.net/2011/03/09/slf-amendments-to-motions/