Caroline Lucas urges Labour to back bill to repeal Tory NHS reforms

The Green party MP Caroline Lucas has called on Labour to support a bill that would reverse much of the Conservatives’ NHS reforms, and was previously backed by Jeremy Corbyn.

The private member’s bill, named the NHS reinstatement bill, received cross-party support when it was first introduced to parliament in July, and was signed by Corbyn, the Labour leader, and the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, when the pair were backbenchers.

The bill would reinstate the secretary of state’s responsibility for the health of UK citizens, something the Health and Social Care Act removed. It would also abolish bodies such as NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and clinical commissioning groups, allowing commercial companies to provide services only if they were essential to patient welfare and the NHS could not do so itself.

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