Paracetamol for Nick Clegg?

So the House of Lords have nearly finished their work on amending the Bill. The Lords haven't altered the Bill to any significant extent - which you wouldn't believe if you listened to the politicians who say they have worked wonders and made their Bill much more palatable. Amazingly LibDem Lords even voted AGAINST their own amendments which seems hard to believe.

We have seen a real headache occur for Nick Clegg. His grassroots members - those who tramp the streets every weekend campaigning for the party - are now in effect opposing the Bill. This was after an impassioned plea by Mr Clegg to 'move on' and accept the Bill and work with it. Well they have had their say and it doesn't chime well with Mr Clegg. His party stalwarts said NO to the Bill. How humiliating for the party leadership. The grassroots LibDems must be very worried as they see political annihilation looming on the electoral horizon.

Surely the LibDems must see that the enormous professional opposition to the Bill counts for much more than following an ideological political philosophy. There is still time to stop the Bill. History will look back on the last 18 months of the Health Bill's slow progress through Parliament and it will be damning on those who wilfully supported it in the face of enormous opposition from patients, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, health visitors and many many more who work in the NHS day in day out. Do their opinions count for nothing Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron?

The Bill soon moves back to the House of Commons and I am asking anyone who uses the NHS to lobby their MP to ask them to vote against the Bill in this final opportunity to stop the Bill in its tracks and reduce the risk of the enormous privatisation we will see if the Bill becomes law.

We must keep the fight going. The NHS is too important not to do so.


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