by Emma Kirwan
Campaigners fearing the Conservatives are planning to privatise the NHS are marching in Leeds this weekend.
Keep Our NHS Public is an independent campaign organisation, and this weekend’s protest will see people from various backgrounds including nurses, consultants, elderly services users and school teachers marching on Saturday to ‘let people know what is at stake’.
Nick Jones, founder member and treasurer of Keep Our NHS public said “We are marching because the NHS is being privatised. Companies have shareholders and are more bothered about making profit. Surely it should be paid back into patient care, that’s why I pay my taxes. Unfortunately some of these companies who hope to make a profit avoid paying their taxes. And we need nurses, not profiteers.”
But Stuart Andrew MP said that the Conservatives are not privatising the NHS.
“The allegation is simply not true. If I genuinely believed that we were truly privatising the NHS, I would resign. Since the Conservatives have introduced healthcare reforms, the involvement of the private sector has only increased by 1% since the Labour Party were in power. This shows that their allegations are nothing more than scaremongering.”
The march will assemble at Leeds art gallery at 11:30am. The route is to go along the Headrow, down Vicar Lane, along Boar lane, back up Briggate (precinct) and return to Art Gallery around 1:15pm.