How the National Health Action Party have brought out the worst in Labour supporters for me over Eastleigh

National Health Action Party

As a Labour Party member, I am prone to be tribal without realising it. Whenever Danny Alexander or Simon Hughes blame Labour for the deficit, and blame Labour for all other woes, I tend to switch off, and put it down to LibDem tribalism. But this of course cuts both ways. Some Labour members, apart from those pursuing a ‘progressive left’ with groups such as Compass, for much of this parliament have embraced what can best be described as a ‘hate campaign’ against LibDem members. This is often justified by such individuals because the LibDems have ‘sold out’, voting on key legislation such as the NHS reforms, welfare reforms, legal aid, to name but a few.

We have a broken political system – it is probably likely that voters in Eastleigh will vote for the LibDems first, and the Tories second. This was never a seat which Labour hoped to win. Labour supporters, even in the wake of the Francis Report and the implementation of PFI (originally a John Major policy), have incessantly said ‘they invented the NHS’, despite the fact that a Liberal (William Beveridge) had a lot to do with it. It’s as if they wish to stand on a 1945 slate, not wishing to engage in any teamwork over how best to advance the NHS. It’s the ‘hands off our NHS’ approach which I found initially distasteful.

If Labour had the remotest chance of winning, I would understand. However, it’s the fact that some Labour members tweet and share an article on Labour List called, “The National Health Action Party must be strangled at birth” makes me realise how very unpleasant some people’s political views are (and they are within Labour), but unfortunately which are given a voice on the blogosphere. Advocates of this article establish that the NHA Party pose a threat to Labour, rather than NHA Party pose a threat to the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, but surely if Labour were that robust about their own policy this would not be an issue?

Whenever I mention that I would rather have a NHA Party MP vote against the Coalition on health than a Tory MP or LibDem MP in a seat ‘safe for’ Tories and Liberal Democrats individually, all I ever get is a ‘non answer’. When the electorate return a Tory MP or LibDem MP, it will indeed be sad that ‘The Only Way is Eastleigh’ show is over, but we’ll have a MP who votes for the Coalition on the NHS. Further to that, the voters in Eastleigh will be none-the-wiser if their NHS services, for example A&E departments, are shut down in the Winchester/Eastleigh region.

Indeed, Labour members are right to praise Jamie Reed, Andrew Gwynne, Diane Abbott and Andy Burnham, but actions for me speak louder than words. Labour failed to stop the enactment of the Health and Social Care Act (2012), enabled by a BBC which refused to discuss it and the votes of Liberal Democrats. But actions are important. It is only a few weeks before the statutory instrument 157 becomes law, thrusting the NHS into the machinery of competition law, even though CCGs do not have the necessary legal expertise or resources. There’s nothing to stop the Labour team stating tomorrow that they oppose this statutory instrument which is the engine behind the outsourcing of the NHS, the precursor to a full-blown privatisation.

Labour, a party which I am actually a member of, has some members which offend me in terms of their political approach. Instead of concentrating on the issues, they wish to ‘strangle at birth’ a party which I agree with actually – on warning over the dangers and fallacy of the markets in our NHS.

http://gravatar.com/bhfisher Brian Fisher

The Labour Party will actively work against the s75 regulations, both in the Lords and the Commons, as I understand it.
Richard Grimes

My opinion is, and always has been, that the NHA Party can achieve something very useful, and that is to ensure that at every election health policy *must* be discussed. The 2010 election was significant in that health policy was not mentioned at all (Cameron would have lost votes, so he muzzled Lansley). This will not be the case in 2015, because Labour will focus on the NHS as an example of a Tory policy imposed on us that is against what the public want or thought they voted for. If Labour won’t do this, the NHA Party will, and that can only be a good thing. I completely disagree with the LabourList article you mention, although I recognise the frustration of the author that the NHA Party intend to target a marginal (Broxtowe – somewhere I have a lot of affection for, having lived there for three years) that Labour have a good chance of winning. Rather than writing abusive articles the local Labour party needs to be talking to the NHA Party. Ousting Soubry could be a delicious Portillo moment, and so the Broxtowe Labour party should focus on her.

I think the main problem with the NHS Party is illustrated by the photo at the top of this article: it gives the impression that the party is elitist. The NHA Party deny this, but inevitably the media describe them as a party of doctors. They themselves perpetuate this image, for the campaign in Eastleigh the NHS Party suggest supporters wear scrubs and carry stethoscopes. The NHS is not about the 110,000 doctors (or the 350,000 nurses) it is about the 17 million treatments and the millions of patients who are treated every year. However much they protest against it, the NHS Party give the impression that “doctor knows best”, a top-down, elitist attitude, and I think we can all agree that in these days of shared decision making, its a sentiment that is outdated. This perceived elitism will always be a problem for the NHA Party, and I think it is one of the reasons for the attacks from some Labour activists.

As a patient, as a relative and friend of patients, I campaign for the NHS, and the Labour party does too. I don’t attack the NHA Party and I don’t think Labour activists should either. Labour should focus on the most important part of the NHS: the patients.
- Guy Baily
  
  Who says the NHA party intends to target Broxtowe? Broxtowe was given as an example of how the party could damage the progressive cause, by a Labour politician, in a TV debate, chosen presumably because Anna Soubry was there. I am a member of the NHA executive (and a doctor – sorry about that) and I can say with some certainty that we have not decided where we will stand, except against a small number of coalition ministers who we have named. We are acutely aware of the risk of splitting the progressive vote but we will not absolutely avoid existing Labour seats. Labour bears significant responsibility for laying the groundwork for privatisation when in government and is still giving mixed messages. If the Labour Party were a reliable supporter of integrated, publicly provided health care, the NHA party would not need to exist and we could all get on with our day jobs. The truth is that a much of the senior PLP has in large measure bought into neo-liberalism and believes in market solutions. They may be persuaded by electoral opportunism to move to something a little more collectivist, but in power they will revert to type. Someone needs to hold their feet to the fire.
  - Richard Grimes
    
    “Who says the NHA party intends to target Broxtowe”
    
    The NHA Party have said on social media that they would target coalition minsters and for the time being Anna Soubry is a Minister of State for Health. If your reply is a reassurance that the NHA Party will not target seats like Broxtowe (or indeed, any marginal where Labour has a chance of winning, like for example North Warwickshire which is local to me) then I welcome it. As I have said above, a Labour government (properly held to account) is the best option for the NHS at the next election. The “properly held to account” is vitally important, and can only be done from within. Undoubtedly we need to infuse health policy into everything government does, and to do that a Labour government would need health experts.
    
    The likelihood of *any* NHA Party MPs at the next election is very small (look at how many decades the Greens have taken to get a single MP) but the potential of delivering a Conservative/Orange Book government is high. In 2000 Ralph Nader split the US progressive vote enough for the world to suffer eight years of George W Bush. The NHA Party must be careful not to deliver a Tory/Orange Book government in 2015.
    - Guy Baily
      
      We have thought about this in the NHA. We do understand about splitting the vote. We do not intend to stand in Labour targets. If there is an especially despised minister, and Labour has a realistic chance of getting rid of them, we will leave them to it. We are attempting the difficult task of getting Labour to take notice without doing serious damage. We do not guarantee no damage. We do know that winning elections from a standing start is extraordinarily difficult and therefore winning elections is not exclusively what we are about.
      
      I have nothing against “properly held to account … from within” except that there is precious little sign of that having happened over the last 15 years or so and nothing much to suggest any change now. Meanwhile health care, which I care about passionately, is going down the tube. When the only progressive party has stopped being progressive, and the people in it lack either the will or the means to change that, what is there left to us? If we wait another decade for Labour to rediscover itself there wont be an NHS. (Actually 3 or 4 years of the present regime will finish it off)
      
      I repeat, if the Labour party were a reliable supporter of integrated, publicly provided health care, the NHA party would not need to exist. Nothing would make me happier than see the Labour Party standing unequivocally against marketised solutions to public services but I dont see it happening.
Sue

I am a member of the Labour Party but wish the NHAP all the best in this election. Some have been worried that this party would split the vote on the left but they are performing a vital role I feel in educating people re what is happening to the NHS and a large amount of votes for them would certainly shake both the Tories and the Lib Dems I think.
Sue

I agree with you Guy and those of us in the Labour Party need to redouble our efforts to force the Labour Party to come out with full support for a collectivist NHS with no priatisation.
Martin Rathfelder

If the people who are putting their energies into the NHA Party joined the Labour Party and put their energies into that they would have more chance of making a difference in the real world. Doctors have a lot of credibility but they can’t change the world on their own.