17th October 2006

I am delighted that David Drew(MP) agrees with me on the need to keep the NHS Public and the need to work with the Trade Unions on this matter(Letters 12 October) However, in trying to criticise me and the Green Party, he neatly skirts around his own party's culpability in both the increasing privatization of the Health Service and in failing to redress Thatcher's anti-union legislation.  Maybe he failed to notice the reception his leader, Tony Blair, receives at the TUC congress?  He also fails to answer whether the Labour Party has actually signed-up to the 'Keep our NHS Public' Campaign?

The reality is, that 'New Labour' is getting closer and closer to big business and distancing itself from ordinary working people.  In contrast the Green Party recognizes the need for the state to play a strong role in provision of services, protecting employment rights, protecting the environment and redistributing wealth.

However the key issue is that all those who care about the health service, of whatever party or none, need to pull together to protect our hospitals and other services from cuts.

Cllr Martin Whiteside - Hillside, Claypits Lane, Thrupp, Stroud Stroud Green
Party Parliamentary Spokesperson