Nearly 40 Labour MPs have warned the government would “renege” on its manifesto if it went ahead with proposals to use private finance to fund NHS facilities.The government has said it would consider using a combination of taxpayer money and private finance to build new Neighbourhood Health Centres in every community.In a private letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, seen by the BBC, 38 Labour MPs pointed to the party’s manifesto promise that the NHS would “always be publicly owned and publicly funded”.A government spokesperson said funding for the health centres “will build on lessons learnt from past and current models”.The Labour MPs say that, “At a time when trust in politics is at its lowest, it would be very damaging for the government to renege on this promise”.The letter, which is signed by MPs mostly from the left of the party, goes on: “We are asking you to learn from the mistakes of the past. We must reject the notion that private finance can be used to build public services in a way that can be to the long-term benefit of the public.”We ask you to please drop any plans for new private finance in the NHS from the Autumn Budget and any future policy.”One of the signatories, Cat Eccles, said: “I worked in the NHS for over 20 years and I saw firsthand the damaging effects of PFI on NHS trusts. Poor quality buildings with leaking roofs, inadequate layouts in clinical spaces, an …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnNearly 40 Labour MPs have warned the government would “renege” on its manifesto if it went ahead with proposals to use private finance to fund NHS facilities.The government has said it would consider using a combination of taxpayer money and private finance to build new Neighbourhood Health Centres in every community.In a private letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, seen by the BBC, 38 Labour MPs pointed to the party’s manifesto promise that the NHS would “always be publicly owned and publicly funded”.A government spokesperson said funding for the health centres “will build on lessons learnt from past and current models”.The Labour MPs say that, “At a time when trust in politics is at its lowest, it would be very damaging for the government to renege on this promise”.The letter, which is signed by MPs mostly from the left of the party, goes on: “We are asking you to learn from the mistakes of the past. We must reject the notion that private finance can be used to build public services in a way that can be to the long-term benefit of the public.”We ask you to please drop any plans for new private finance in the NHS from the Autumn Budget and any future policy.”One of the signatories, Cat Eccles, said: “I worked in the NHS for over 20 years and I saw firsthand the damaging effects of PFI on NHS trusts. Poor quality buildings with leaking roofs, inadequate layouts in clinical spaces, an …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
