On 24th April the House of Lords voted through the NHS ‘section 75’ regulations, which open up the NHS to far more private sector competition. The overwhelming opposition from grassroots campaigners and NHS workers fell, ultimately, on deaf ears. So where do we go from here?
As a key part of the EU-US trade deal currently being fleshed out, the Conservatives are making good on a decades old fantasy of theirs - breaking up the NHS and opening it to global business. This is the reality and it's happening now.
Trade talks quietly taking place between the US and the EU could see England's NHS tied into a privatised model semi-permanently. Yet this deeply concerning backdrop to the Coalition's deplorable NHS privatisation has received scant media attention. People must act.
An EU-US drive to harmonise services - particularly health - is critical to the NHS reforms. As the Trade Commission acknowledged, without the financial crash this would not have been possible. Britain's 'shock' programme continues.