Hugh Muir may have just done an extensive synthesis of the faults of UKIP, but their party is still expected to do very well in the forthcoming European elections.
On the UKIP issues website, it is declared that:
“The NHS and state education strain under a population increase of 4 million since 2001.”
Clearly free movement of persons/workers is going to be a major issue for UKIP in discussing the NHS, but it would be sheer folly to ignore the large numbers of workers from ethnic minorities groups which work day-in and day-out for the NHS.
That sentence on NHS and state education is the only formal mention of the NHS on the “Issues” page.
However three other things are mooted.
“Open GP surgeries in the evening, for full-time workers, where there is demand.” This is of course a perfectly sensible policy if resources allow.
“Locally-elected County Health Boards to inspect hospitals – to avoid another Stafford Hospital crisis.”
This of course could be seen as dogwhistle politics too.
Despite Jeremy Hunt’s regular mentions of Mid Staffs, the current Government has failed to introduce before parliament a draft Bill on the regulation of health professionals, proposed by the English Law Commission – and time is running out.
And in the voluminous Health and Social Care Act (2012), there is no clause on patient safety – apart from the one abolishing the National Patient Safety Agency.
The discussion around patient safety essentially revolves around budgeting and safe staffing, not local health boards. Section 44 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, legislating on wilful effect, did exist at the time of many of the possible offences at Mid Staffs.
“Make welfare a safety net for the needy, not a bed for the lazy. Benefits only available to those who have lived here for over 5 years.”
This runs the risk of ‘dog whistle politics’, as nobody reasonable would dare to call the whole community of disabled citizens ‘lazy’.
However, a useful account of UKIP’s main policies on health are provided by Keith Rowe here.
But there are still glaring gaps – such as what is UKIP’s view on the current expenditure in the private finance initiative? It appears that UKIP has waged war of sorts on multinational corporates. Cynics might say this has been a means to capture the Labour vote. Others say that this is not a general war on finance, particularly given Farage’s stockbroker background.
Many people intending to vote UKIP are not intending to vote UKIP in the general election. But the question is why are they voting for UKIP at all?
It could be that they have been whipped up into a media hysteria, which issues such as the NHS simply can’t generate.
But this explanation is quite unlikely – given, for example, the intensity of discussion around the NHS when Question Time visited Lewisham.
And, frustratingly for supporters of the NHS, UKIP do not spend much time discussing the quite damaging effects the investor protection clauses of the EU-US free trade treaty might have.
This has been left to other parties, including Labour, the Green Party, and the National Health Action Party, to discuss.
I sincerely hope this blogpost has not been too friendly – as Patrick O’Flynn, Communications for UKIP, has said in the past: “With enemies like you, who needs friends?”
