Luciana Berger: Labour Party Conference 2012 diary - day four
Today at conference the NHS and crime dominated the debate in the main hall. In his speech Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham highlighted the damage that the Lib Dem-Tory Government has done to the NHS by carrying out an unnecessary multi-billion top down re-organisation.
It was a massive waste of scarce resources; the result of which is that now there are over 5,000 fewer nurses than when David Cameron entered Downing Street.
If elected, Labour would repeal the coalition's damaging Health and Social Care Act. We would eradicate the competition element the Act has brought in, and replace it with co-operation. But instead of carrying out another massive reorganisation, we would change the way the NHS works to ensure patients are put before profits.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also spoke today. She talked about the cuts the coalition Government is making to police officer numbers and challenged the Government to halt any privatisation of our police force.
Right now some police forces are handing over the management of police services, such as custody suites, to private companies like G4S. Labour believes this is wrong and we oppose it. But more importantly many of the people I talk in Liverpool tell me that they don't want this to happen either. The public want the work of the police to be done by police officers not private companies, trying to make commercial gains rather than concentrating on keeping us safe.
I had another busy day meeting with Interns Aware to support their campaign to end unpaid internships. At midday I was on Radio Five Live talking about Ed Miliband's conference speech and the Government's shambolic handling of the West Coast Mainline franchise.
In the evening I appeared on Free Speech, a BBC Three 'Question Time' style programme which gives young people a chance to debate the burning political issues of the day. The show was packed full of lively debate, covering a range of topics from immigration to tuition fees. It was great to see so many young people engaged in politics and talking passionately about the challenges facing our country.
It was clear from the many listening to many of the contributions just how much of an impact Nick Clegg's broken promises have had on peoples trust in politicians. This is a real worry and I would be keen to hear from people about how they think we can turn that around.
Luciana Berger is Labour & Co-operative MP for Liverpool Wavertree and Shadow Minister for Climate Change. Visit her website HERE and she tweets @lucianaberger.
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David Bartlett
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So, Andy Burnham is complaining about £250 million being spent on privatisation.
That's rich, while he was health secretary under Labour he gave away £285 BILLION in PFI contracts that will cost the tax payer an estimated three times that amount over the next 30 years.
£250 million is a drop in the ocean. I will never trust Labour or Andy Burnham with the NHS again. All lies, all spin, all politics.