HSC Bill in the House of Lords

The Bill was accepted for second reading in the House of Lords by a large majority after a debate in which nearly 100 peers spoke.  Most (even some Conservatives) were critical of the Bill.  Lord Tugendhat (a Conservative lawyer and judge) said it would have been sufficient to have used the 4% efficiency cuts as a lever of change instead of saddling the NHS with all these changes as well.

Many Liberal Democrats (including Lady Williams) voted against Lord Rea's proposal to reject the Bill and 60 voted against Lord Owen's proposal for a Select Committee.  The only excuse was that it would put certain amendments in the hands of a smaller group when many peers wanted to have a say.

10 days of debate have been provisionally allocated for debate lasting until 19th December.  Labour offered to guarantee this date if Lord Owen's amendment was accepted.  If not, they said they would be pressing hard (along with many Lib Dems) for more time to be allocated for debate.  The Third Reading of the Bill will be expected in mid January, when it will return to the Commons to consider amendments agreed by the Lords.

The debate will now become quite technical but it seems likely that the main principles of the Bill will remain and successful amendments are more likely to be in the form of damage limitation.

Local implementation of cuts, changes, transfers etc. will need to be resisted by all means possible, from demanding consultations, participation in consultation over changes to make objections clear, and then whatever other action may be necessary to protect services.  Broad public action protesting against the Bill will need to continue.