Set the Record Straight on NHS Future, Plaid Cymru Urges Welsh Government

Mixed Messages are Dangerous and Confusing to Public, Elin Jones AM Warns.

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Health has called on the Labour Party to stop sending out mixed messages about the future of the NHS in Tory hands.

Elin Jones AM said the contrast between statements from the Labour Party in Scotland and what their colleagues say in Wales and England was not only stark but dangerous and irresponsible.

The former Labour Chancellor and No Campaign figurehead Alistair Darling has been accused of defending the Tories’ record on the NHS, saying that “Spending on the NHS… has carried on increasing for the last four years under the present government and it is set to increase again.”

However, Mark Drakeford warned the NHS confederation earlier this year of the knock-on effect of Tory cuts on the NHS. He said, “with the Chancellor of the Exchequer promising a further £25bn worth of cuts, if he remains in office during the rest of this decade, it is no wonder that the Auditor General for Wales has concluded that the financial outlook for public services in Wales is ‘bleak’”

Elin Jones said that the Health Minister in Wales was continually being contradicted by his party colleagues within the Scottish No Campaign and it was time for him to set the record straight.

“The Health Minister needs to sort out with his Labour party colleagues in Scotland whether the Tories’ privatisation and cuts agenda for the NHS is a threat to services in the devolved countries or not,” she said .

“Labour in Scotland is claiming everything will be fine the way things are under the Tories. We all know that decisions taken in England about the NHS affect funding for the devolved nations and thus our ability to fund public services – it is very damaging for Labour MPs and MSPs to be suggesting otherwise because it suits their agenda.”

She added: “It must be highly embarrassing for Labour politicians in Wales and England to be constantly undermined by their colleagues in Scotland.

“The Party of Wales is serious about safeguarding the NHS and resisting privatisation. It is time the Labour Party got their act together throughout the United Kingdom before it is too late. If they are serious about saving the NHS they should be clear that continued Tory cuts and privatisation in England pose a threat to the NHS throughout the United Kingdom.

“The Health Minister should therefore make his views clear about the damage the Tories are doing to the NHS and condemn the views of his colleagues in Scotland.”