NHS under threat

Campaigners in Rochester campaigning against Conservative NHS proposals

Gillingham Labour Councillors campaigning against Tory NHS privatisation

Medway Labour Campaigners have been meeting residents in Gillingham, Chatham, Strood and Rochester to safeguard our NHS from David Cameron and his Medway Conservative MPs Tracey Crouch, Rehman Chisthi and Mark Reckless who are supporting a privatisation agenda and the undermining of NHS through increased use of private-sector provision.

We need to take action to stop Tory-led plans which will fundamentally change the NHS we know and love. If the Tory and Lib Dem Coalition force through the Health and Social Care Bill, the NHS will be very different in five years’ time – with more privatisation, worse patient care and increased red tape to stop health professionals doing their job

Lots of campaign groups, professional health associations and patients’ organisations are working to stop the Bill.

To get involved in the campaign please visit the Save our NHS website and lobby your MP today.

Victory for the Community

Positive news today from NHS Medway that the blood clinics that had been threatened with closure have been saved after a welcome u-turn.

It was clear that there was widespread and public opposition to the closure from residents, independent petitions, Conservative MPs (Mark Reckless) and Councillor Ted Baker and the Labour opposition locally including Councillors Teresa Murray and Nick Bowler who have been working hard door-to-door to get a mass petition signed.

Maximum pressure has been applied with open letters and public calls for appropriate consultation. A concerted effort has been made using all the mediums at local residents disposal to register our discontent and someone sat up and listended.

All credit where its due to local residents who signed petitions in pharmacies, on doorsteps and online.

We await to see the small print, but on the face of it a welcome development

Services for elderly people must be maintained in Rochester. There are many people close to retirement who use these services and who do not want to have to travel miles for basic care.

Healthcare is a right not a privilege.

Teresa Murray acts on Rochester NHS cuts

Looks like the Medway Conservatives are running scared of the campaign to safeguard the Rochester clinics which have been closed with little notice by the Primary Care Trust.

Some might say we have struck a nerve.

With news of substantial NHS cuts being overseen by the Conservative government it comes as no surprise that services are being rationalised.

Despite the public displays of anger on the matter the only public statement from the Conservatives can be found here

The 'independent' petitions, being heavily advertised by the Conservatives, are of course welcome and this blog would urge people to support as many petitions as possible to safeguard these services. Tory suggestions that support for one petition detracts from another are baseless.

To claim that political parties should not be petitioning people also ignores basic democratic principles. Petitions can be submitted by any interest group.

Labour will campaigning hard over the next month to oppose the Conservative funding cuts to the NHS which we believe has led to this decision.

Cllr Teresa Murray is happy to make public her correspondence on the matter with the Primary Care Trust:

Healthletter

Meanwhile, we have had no website statement from the MP on the closure of the clinics in Rochester, despite requests from this blog to try and allow constituents to see that work has/had been carried out.

Much confusion rained last night as a former Conservative indicated the MP opposed the closure whilst another said he was looking for postponement.

A welcome letter has been sent to this blog which indicates our MP is calling for a full postponement of the decision. Given this could be private correspondence, I may not have permission to see or indeed publish this document but am happy to publish in full if given permission.

To get to this stage required much tenacity on the part of this blogger. When pressed on the matter the office aide to Mark Reckless stated that:

'Do you think an MP is going to broadcast every single issue that he's working on?'

This blog then clarified how people were supposed to know what our MPs position was on such a public and pressing issue, if he had not advertised a position;

The reply;

'A simple call to Mark's would have confirmed the matter was in hand.'

A helpful aide then but the public expect better. I work office hours.

People's Party message to Medway

Rochester Labour team: Derek Munton, Oscar Davies, Teresa Murray, Ed Miliband and Sarah Hehir

Ed Miliband visited Medway today to set out a vision for re-creating a People's Party that must re-connect with the voters in Medway. To a packed audience of local press and all Medway Labour local election candidates next year he pledged to make Labour the party of people's "hopes and aspirations" as he launched a major review of its policies in the wake of the general election defeat across the three constituencies in Medway.

The failure of Medway Conservatives to address the concerns of local residents is now being echoed in national government by a coalition which is cutting services and hurting the same people that voted it into power in May 2010. The middle class are being targeted by Mark Reckless, Tracey Crouch and Rehman Chisthi for aggressive tax rises and service cuts. Fully supported by Tory Councillors.

In his first address to the party's national policy forum as leader, he said it had to recognise the need for change and move "beyond New Labour".

Unveiling 22 policy inquiries, Miliband told the forum, that the same old stance would not restore trust in the party.

"We have to show again we are the people who are the idealists, we are the people who are the optimists, we are the people who can represent the hopes, the dreams, the aspirations of the British people," he said. "So please join us on this journey. Join us on this journey which makes us once again the people's party, the party of people's hopes and aspirations, back on people's side, back in power making for the fairer, the more equal, the more just country we believe in."

Miliband said that while there was deep anger at the "broken promises" of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, Labour could not afford simply to wait for the coalition to "screw up".

"I know that we have got to change in order to win,"

"There is no short cut or quick fix to this. We shouldn't mistake the anger we feel at what the coalition is doing to the country for a sense that it isn't as much about us as it is about them.

"The strategy that says wait for them to screw it up, simply be a strong opposition, is not a strategy that is going to work for us. We need to do that hard thinking of our own."

Miliband said that he made no apology for speaking up for what he describes as the "squeezed middle".

"People were feeling squeezed before this government. They are feeling much, much more squeezed now this government is in power,"

"So it is about standing up for the hopes and aspirations of people. That must be our mission, to narrow the gap between the dreams that people can see around them and their chances of realising them."

Labour locally are standing up for the squeezed middle classes of Medway and will be focused on the issues which matter. A fairer tax system, cutting train fares, stopping the tution fee madness, opposing the economic policy of the Coalition which is cutting too fast and deep in uncertain periods globally. Supporting sustainability in government and supporting families must be the priority for a Medway Labour group seeking office.

After his speech Ed met the Medway Labour team and gave same advice on how to defeat the Tories and pledged his support for May 2011. He was impressed that Labour has picked a candidate under 35 in every winnable ward and continues to select a diverse slate of candidates from varying backgrounds and careers.

Ed Miliband then visited Mid-Kent College where he attended a Q&A sponsored by the KOS media group. He was asked non-vetted questions from a mixed audience which included several Conservative candidates.

The questions were broad but particular interest from this blogger was placed on the questions from the young students at the college who raised significant issue with tuition fees and the cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance.

Both Conservative and Liberal Democrat policies. Both supported by Tory and Liberal Democrat Councillors on Thursday.

Ed dealt with the questions well and was warm with the audience and did set out a clearly progressive agenda in relation to the European Union, for government action and support in the third sector and on a Graduate tax for tuition fees. He was not partisan and never once attacked David Cameron.

For a party coming out of opposition there is no requirement to set a policy agenda but to underscore a narrative.

The narrative was clearly set today. A People's Party from the community which listens and learns.