DELEGATES at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool overwhelmingly voted to overturn the Labour government’s abolition of the Winter Fuel Allowance yesterday.
Moving the motion, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘The nation wants food, work and homes… It wants a high and rising standard of living, security for all, against a rainy day.
‘Friends, that’s a quote from the 1945 Labour Manifesto, written in the shadow of death, destruction and debt, caused by years of war. A manifesto of hope. Written at a time when our debt to GDP was 270 per cent. Nearly three times higher than it is now.
She went on: ‘Friends, people simply do not understand, I do not understand, how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched. This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and needs to be reversed.
‘Friends, we are the sixth richest economy in the world. We have the money. Britain needs investment, not austerity mark two. We won’t get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt. These fiscal rules are self-imposed and the decision to keep them is hanging like a noose around our necks. The system is rigged and the country knows it.’
In response, Health Secretary Wes Streeting contemtuously told the BBC’s Politics Live programme that the Labour government will simply ignore the vote, arrogantly declaring: ‘We don’t have the luxury of ducking the difficult choices and decisions. I’m not sure we were ever going to persuade Sharon.’
Earlier, in his speech to the conference, Streeting detailed the onslaught that he is going to wage against the NHS, saying that the National Health Service is to be ‘reformed’ into the ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’.
Streeting told the conference: ‘The truth is, right now the NHS is letting people down… Nearly three million people off work sick… I say respectfully, but unequivocally, I won’t back down. The NHS is broken…
‘We can only deliver recovery through reform. Without action on prevention, the NHS will be overwhelmed. Without reform to services, we’ll end up putting in more cash for poorer results. That’s the choice. Reform or die. We choose reform…
‘We’re sending crack teams of top clinicians to hospitals across the country to roll out reforms…
‘I can announce today that the first twenty hospitals targeted by these teams will be in areas with the highest numbers of people off work sick…
‘Get sick Brits back to health and back to work…
‘Advances in genomics and data mean the healthcare of the future will be more predictive, more preventative and more personalised than ever before…
‘Our ten-year plan will give all patients, rich and poor alike, the same information, the same choice, the same control. Now I know there are some on the left who cringe at this. Who view choice as somehow akin to marketisation…
‘World class services shouldn’t just be the preserve of the wealthy. So starting in the most disadvantaged areas, we will ensure patients’ right to choose where they are treated, and we will build up local health services so it’s a genuine choice and where there’s capacity in the private sector, patients should be able to choose to go there too, free at the point of use, paid for by the NHS…
‘So here it is: we are in the foothills of a decade of national renewal. Ten years in which our country and our health and care services will change enormously. The NHS transformed into a Neighbourhood Health Service. A digital health service powered by cutting-edge technology. A preventative health service that helps us stay healthy and out of hospital. And a new National Care Service, ensuring people can live dignified and fulfilling lives. That’s the change that lies before us. It will take time and it won’t be easy. We will have to fight loud opposition, cynicism, and vested interests. But Conference, bring it on.’
