Budget Resolutions — Amendment of the Law

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:16 pm on 17 April 2002.

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Photo of Rob Marris Rob Marris Labour, Wolverhampton South West 8:16, 17 April 2002

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his generosity in giving way again. I salute his search for common ground between the two main parties—indeed, between the three main parties and the smaller parties represented in the House—but Labour Members, who uniformly support the concept of the NHS, find it difficult when confronted by statements such as that made earlier by Mr. Redwood, who seemed to suggest that there should be a much greater role for the private sector in delivering private medicine.

I am not talking about the kind of arrangements, such as contracting-out operations, into which the Government have recently entered. The right hon. Gentleman seemed to suggest that it would be a jolly good thing if more people were treated privately—in contradistinction to the Leader of the Opposition, who seemed to decry the fact that there were 250,000 private operations last year. Those mixed messages from the Conservative party confuse Labour Members and make it more difficult to find what common ground there might be.