The Guardian reported this week that Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock plan to "rein in" NHS privatisation in a new NHS Bill to be published next month. NHS England (NHSE) has released a document detailing “22 key changes it believes will be included” in such a bill, and the Guardian tells us their proposals are “likely” to be accepted by government.
Whether any of this will actually happen, given the current level of political uncertainty, is a moot point, of course.
But it’s nonetheless worth investigating. When an election does come, the NHS will be a key battleground, and one in which the Conservatives hope to at least neutralise Labour’s natural advantage. And in the disgruntled words of US President Harry Truman (describing the tactics of his political enemies), “if you can’t convince them, confuse them”. Well, the news – reported in the Guardian, no less – that Johnson will legislate to “rein in” NHS privatisation – is certainly likely to have confused many. Particularly given that Johnson is surrounded by the most pro-free market, anti-state cabinet in recent history, that he’s desperate for a vindicatory US trade deal, and with the US explicitly desperate to profit from our NHS.
