We supported the protest outside the House of Lords as debate on the report stage of the Health and Social Care Bill began. Most people in the protest were from London but there were a few from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. Diane Abbott and a couple of Labour colleagues came over to hold a banner for a time and there was reasonable coverage on BBC national news. Nobody knows how things will develop. The main thing is to keep up public pressure as Cameron, having had no clue at the beginning of all this what the effect of Lansley's Bill would be, seems to be beginning to panic. They are still sticking to the line that the Bill must be passed but more and more people are telling him that what a disaster it is. The only trouble is that even the Plan B currently being canvassed just suggests a different way of delivering cuts.
We expect 38 degrees to mobilise something quite soon and in the meantime are plugging the epetition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22670.
Any other events which draw attention to the feeling against the Bill will surely help - including the Yorkshire TUC protest against the cuts on Saturday 25th February in Leeds.
Outside Sheffield Town Hall on Saturday, there was still plenty of support - although Saturday shoppers are not as numerous as they used to be!
We are a grassroots movement comprising people from all walks of life who are, or will be affected by the government’s austerity measures and spending cuts to NHS Services across England. We also strongly oppose the creeping privatisation of the NHS by successive governments. Privatisation = Profit not Good Patient Care
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