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Labour urges Liberal Democrat peers to halt NHS bill Labour urges Liberal Democrat peers to halt NHS bill
(about 3 hours later)
Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged Lib Dem peers to help kill off the government's controversial health bill.Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged Lib Dem peers to help kill off the government's controversial health bill.
The bill, overhauling the NHS in England, is having a difficult passage through the House of Lords where peers have tabled a number of amendments. Plans to overhaul the NHS in England will be debated by peers next week who have called for a number of changes.
>Writing in the Sunday Mirror, the Labour leader said if the Lib Dems backed it, the outcry would be worse than the row over student tuition fees. Mr Miliband >told the Sunday Mirror the Lib Dems risked a bigger row than that over tuition fees.
Ministers say the bill will empower doctors and increase patient choice. Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell told the BBC all ministers - not just Health Secretary Andrew Lansley - had to "be better" at selling the reforms.
The Health and Social Care Bill's proposals include giving GPs control of much of the NHS budget and opening up the health service to greater competition from the private and voluntary sector. It comes as 40 Conservative MPs href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9104898/A-vote-of-confidence.html" >have written to the Sunday Telegraph praising the principles of the href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/healthandsocialcare.html" >Health and Social Care Bill, without mentioning Mr Lansley - something the newspaper suggests is a "snub" to the health secretary.
Lib Dem president Tim Farron has called for competition elements to be stripped from the legislation, while the party's activists are preparing an emergency motion for their spring conference next month, which calls for the "whole competition chapter of the bill" to be defeated. The bill's proposals include giving GPs control of much of the NHS budget and opening up the health service to greater competition from the private and voluntary sector.
Mr Miliband said: "This week is the time for everybody to stand up and be counted. The Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords must join with Labour to hold David Cameron's health plans below the water line. 'Nothing but respect'
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said no-one in politics had spent as much time understanding the NHS as Mr Lansley and both he and the prime minister had a "deep and abiding love and respect" for the health service.
He said the reforms were born out of a "total commitment" to improving the NHS at a time of increased life expectancy and rising medical costs.
Asked if the health secretary was being briefed against, he said: "I have nothing but respect for the work that the health secretary is doing, I think he spent five years in opposition working out how to make the NHS better. All of us, not just the health secretary, have to be better at selling these reforms."
But Mr Miliband stepped up his attacks on the government over the NHS plans in an article for the Sunday Mirror, in which he called on Lib Dem peers to "stand up and be counted" when the bill is debated in the House of Lords next week.
'Excellent job'
There has been much uneasiness about the bill among Lib Dems. The party's president, Tim Farron, last week called for plans to open up the NHS to greater competition to be dropped entirely from the bill.
Labour leader Mr Miliband said: "The Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords must join with Labour to hold David Cameron's health plans below the water line.
"The House of Lords has the chance to puncture the arrogance of an out-of-touch prime minister who thinks he knows better than patients, nurses and doctors and persuade him to drop this bill.""The House of Lords has the chance to puncture the arrogance of an out-of-touch prime minister who thinks he knows better than patients, nurses and doctors and persuade him to drop this bill."
Ageing population
He added: "They will betray not only the people who rely on today's NHS, but also generations to come."He added: "They will betray not only the people who rely on today's NHS, but also generations to come."
The bill has passed through its Commons stages but its progress has been delayed in the Lords, despite the government tabling more than 100 amendments. Peers will continue to debate the bill next week - with competition in the NHS expected to be a sticking point. The bill has passed through its Commons stages but its progress has been delayed in the Lords, despite the government tabling more than 100 amendments. Peers will continue to debate the bill next week.
A series of groups representing medical professionals has come out against the bill - most recently the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.A series of groups representing medical professionals has come out against the bill - most recently the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Mr Cameron said on Wednesday the bill would "abolish the bureaucracy that has been holding the NHS back". Chancellor George Osborne told Sky News that reports suggesting Mr Lansley had "messed up" the policy were not true: "I absolutely believe we need to see the National Health Service bill through and I think Andrew Lansley is doing an excellent job as health secretary."
He added that reform was needed to deal with the challenges of an ageing population and the rising costs of medical treatments and long-term conditions.