If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I will not.
There are two other important principles, one of which was espoused by the hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall) when she worked for Patricia Hewitt. That is the principle that all NHS providers should be foundation trusts, in order to provide a level playing field, and to ensure that commissioners have a fair choice and that we deliver good value, high-quality care for patients. Finally, there is the principle of ““any willing provider””, where the Labour party provided us not only with a policy, but with a slogan and an election commitment to implement that policy. Now Labour wishes to desert both the policy and the slogan that were in its election manifesto.
This debate makes me feel as though the last 20 years never happened. It could have happened at any time between 1990 and 1997; and in fact it did—many, many times. What has happened since is that Labour in government picked up those principles and sought to put them into effect. Now, less than 12 months after the general election, it has reverted to type. It is as though nothing happened in the past 20 years. We have heard industrial quantities of nonsense this afternoon, and I hope that the House will reject the Opposition's motion.
NHS Reorganisation
Proceeding contribution from
Stephen Dorrell
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 16 March 2011.
It occurred during Opposition day on NHS Reorganisation.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
525 c394 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2023-12-15 15:19:26 +0000
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