Medics look to oust Tatton MP to 'save' NHS

Dr Richard Taylor (right) and Dr Clive Peedell launch in central London of the National Health Action party which aims to save the NHS. Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Medics have launched a political party today to take on the dismantlers-in-chief of the NHS. The National Health Action (NHA) will target seats held by five of the government’s highest profile figures including Tatton MP George Osborne.

The full list of targets are as follows:

  • Prime Minister David Cameron (Whitney)

  • Former health secretary Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire)

  • Health secretary Jeremy Hunt (South West Surrey)

  • Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (Tatton)

  • Lib Dem Minister of State for Schools and the Cabinet Office David Laws (Yeovil).

The NHA party will target these seats because of they claim the MP's are damaging the NHS. Designate co-leader and consultant oncologist Dr Clive Peedell said:

‘George Osborne is pressing ahead with incredibly damaging austerity measures, and his Treasury is taking back front-line money from the NHS. David Laws is a Liberal Democrat who does not believe in the NHS and wants to see a European-model social insurance scheme for healthcare.’

He said pro-austerity agendas damaged people’s health, pushed up suicide rates and increased demand on healthcare resources. As health secretary, he said Jeremy Hunt had a ‘credibility issue and no significant experience in healthcare policy at a crucial time for the NHS’.

The NHA party believes that the government’s reforms are moving one of the fairest, most efficient and cost effective healthcare systems in the world towards a much more expensive profit-driven system similar to the one in the USA. Dr Peedell added: ‘NHA will send a clear message to the public that the NHS will be increasingly dismantled and handed over to the corporate sector unless we fight to maintain it as a public service, dedicated to the public interest.’

The party intends to put forward candidates in up to 50 carefully chosen general election constituencies and will also field candidates in local government elections. It will not stand against any candidate who shares the party’s goals for the NHS and welcomes people from all backgrounds to become members and stand as prospective parliamentary candidates.