NHS rethink shows strong leadership, says David Cameron

Prime minister takes responsibility for public anger over NHS bill but brushes off claims he is making a ‘mess’ of reforms David Cameron has claimed that the listening exercise the government was forced to undertake to salvage the NHS bill was a “strong” thing for the government to do. Earlier this week, the prime minister announced that key elements of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s original blueprint were being abandoned following the two-month listening exercise on the health and social care bill launched in April. The announcement came amid mounting criticism of the coalition’s controversial NHS reforms. The U-turn on elements of the bill prompted Labour leader Ed Miliband on Wednesday to accuse Cameron of making a “complete mess” of health and justice reforms. Miliband launched the attack after reports the government had also ditched plans to introduce a 50% prison sentence discount for early guilty pleas after holding talks with Ken Clarke, the justice secretary, on Tuesday. In an appearance on ITV’s This Morning on Friday, Cameron sought to cast the NHS rethink as a sign of political strength rather than weakness. He said “a number of doctors and nurses are coming back on board”, adding that openness to change is “not weak, it’s sensible”. “In fact, I think it’s strong,” he said. Appearing relaxed on the show, the prime minister said he took responsibility for the two policy areas that have provoked a public outcry – health and sentencing policy. “I knew exactly what was in our health plans when they were announced and exactly what was in our criminal justice consultation paper when we launched it,” Cameron said. “It’s as much my responsibility as it was Andrew Lansley’s or Kenneth Clarke’s. We are a team, we play as a team, and that’s absolutely the way I run my government.” Cameron stressed Clarke’s plans were out to consultation. But he appeared to confirm reports that the 50% sentence reduction idea had been dropped by saying he wanted rapists and murderers and those who commit violence to go to prison “for a very, very long time”. He said: “We are going to make sure the right people are being sent to prison for the right amount of time and make sure we reform.” Asked if Clarke got a yellow card for his comments about giving rapists a 50% sentence reduction if they admitted to the crime, Cameron said many things in the consultation paper that were “extremely good” would be taken forward, including “tougher community punishments”. He rejected the idea that prisons were holiday camps – “They are tough, and they should be tough” – but he indicated that criminals working in the community to make amends for their crimes would form part of his plans for the “big society”. Cameron said it was appalling that people were going to prison, at a cost of £45,000 a year for each place, only for half of them to re-offend again within the first year of release. “Magistrates will be happier punishing people in the community if they really felt they were scrubbing graffiti off walls and cleaning up the streets and making amends for the dreadful things they have done,” he said. Asked why those who commit crimes were not part of the “big society” plans, Cameron told co-host Eammon Holmes, “They will be”, before adding that it would take time to deliver. Cameron fielded questions on NHS pay, welfare reforms, overseas aid and the economy. He said the government’s plans to “rebalance” the economy was making progress but that “it is going to be choppy”. “There will be good months and bad months,” he said. “People will judge this government at the end of our parliamentary term in 2015. People will be able to make a judgement – did they do the right thing in terms of dealing with the deficit? We are taking difficult decisions, unpopular decisions, but I would rather take the right decisions now and actually see the economy grow in the long term than try and be popular now and do the wrong thing.” He added: “It’s very easy in politics just to think of tomorrow and what the papers will say and not think of the long term. In my job you have got to think, ‘Is what I am doing going to help the country in the long term?’” David Cameron NHS Health Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Liberal-Conservative coalition Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 10, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.