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Privatisation of NHS

Question Time last week came from Swindon and among the subjects talked about were the NHS being safe in any post-Brexit deal.

From the outset I have to say that the Tories have never believed in the concept of the NHS “free at the point of need”. But even more so since the late Margaret Thatcher, and this is the bottom line, and consequently NHS privatisation has always been on Tory cards, following on from the privatisation of our utilities in the 80s, and privatisation of our railways by Tory PM John Major in 1992.

Secondly, and very sadly, the British public are averse to paying the much higher levels of income tax necessary to fund an ever expanding NHS, in fact any party going into a general election stating they would raise income tax, would not get elected. This in my view is one reason why the Tories have been kept in power since the 80s.

Tony Blair’s New Labour government 1997-2010, continued the late Margaret Thatcher’s right-wing free market deregulation, with funding of our vital services based on low income tax trickle – down economics.

So Tory ministers’ constant diatribe on blaming the last Labour government for so-called building a huge deficit is utter rubbish. We haven’t had a Labour government running our country since the 1970s.

The Tories are a small-state low income tax party in or out of government, the Tories are obsessed with privatisation. It isn’t rocket science.

One of the things we need so desperately in this country is a well-educated, politically-educated population, then the entire Tory party and government would hopefully never see the light of day in this country ever again, because people would see right through them.

Instead of which we are largely a politically-gullible nation neither interested in politics, or motivated by politics, unless things affect us personally, but by then it’s too late as is now.

Although Boris Johnson appears to be picking up support due to his no-nonsense approach to Brexit, while we put up with more cuts to our vital services, the real issue here regarding the NHS, is not Brexit and ‘American intrusion’. It’s the full privatisation of our NHS should Boris Johnson win the next general election. As a lady in the audience pointed out, the NHS is already being privatised by stealth by the Tories.

I can neither understand or comprehend why so many people still vote Tory. By now people must know what’s at stake, it is beyond my comprehension when Tory voters are voting for these cuts, when this country is clearly awash with money.

Michael Thompson, Brixham

Damaging combination

As a retired headteacher I fully endorse the recent letter from Martin Smith on the damaging impact of reductions in educational funding.

As he states since 2010 school funding has reduced significantly on a per pupil basis. The nationally respected Institute for Fiscal Studies cited in 2018 that this funding had fallen by 8 per cent since 2010. However, schools are not only having to cope with these damaging funding reductions – they are also faced with cuts in the provisions to support vulnerable youngsters provided by local councils and health authorities. This combination of less funding and reduced support services is particularly damaging to the most vulnerable pupils.

Wiltshire has one of the lowest levels of educational funding in the country – the same is true of Swindon. I hope the electorate will consider just how effective MPs have been in securing fair educational funding for their community.

Pete Crockett, Royal Wootton Bassett