Labour MPs urge Reeves to drop private finance plans for NHS buildings
Rachel Reeves has been urged by 40 Labour MPs to drop plans to fund NHS buildings with private finance initiatives (PFI) that would saddle the health service with debt,The Labour MPs, including Cat Eccles, Clive Lewis and Rebecca Long-Bailey, pressed the chancellor to commit to investment in the NHS without the use of private capital and warned that a return to the New Labour era of private funding for public projects would be damaging for trust in the government,“We are asking you to learn from the mistakes of the past,We must reject the notion that private finance can be used to build public services in a way that can be to the long-term benefit of the public,” they said in their letter,“We ask you to please drop any plans for new private finance in the NHS from the autumn budget and any future policy.
”While it was originally conceived under the Conservatives, Tony Blair’s Labour government made significant use of PFI, a form of public-private partnerships used to build schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure, without adding to the national debt.In their joint letter, the dozens of Labour MPs said using private partnerships was more expensive than publicly funded projects and had contributed to crippling debts in the NHS since 1997, with 80 trusts still paying back a combined £44bn while services are suffering.“As I am sure you are aware, using private finance to build new healthcare facilities does not bring in new money to the NHS – it is simply an expensive way of borrowing money which future generations of taxpayers will be required to pay back,” the MPs said.“Nor is it likely that using private finance will allow you to stay within your current rules on investment and borrowing, even if it is classed as off the public sector’s balance sheet.“The Office for Budget Responsibility indicated in 2017 that using ‘off-balance-sheet’ financing for public infrastructure to dodge borrowing rules amounts to a ‘fiscal illusion’ and that it should only be used if there is a clear value for money justification.
“However, as the National Audit Office found in 2017 there is no evidence that these schemes are value for money, with PFI hospitals being 70% more expensive than the publicly financed option,”The UK infrastructure strategy and the 10-year plan for health mention exploring the use of private capital for funding the building of NHS facilities, including neighbourhood health centres (NHCs),The MPs pointed to analysis that suggests the use of private finance for small-scale projects represented even worse value for taxpayers than its use for bigger projects,NHCs are likely to be closer in character to those small-scale projects than to the big hospitals,More than 50 academics, including the Labour peer and accountancy expert Prem Sikka, have already written to the chancellor asking her to “abandon this dangerous and damaging proposal and fund public services through direct taxation or borrowing”.
The Labour party’s manifesto at the general election stated that the NHS with Labour “will always be publicly owned and publicly funded”.Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has already sought to reassure MPs that any new use of private finance in the NHS would be limited and targeted, and would aim to avoid the mistakes of PFI.A government spokesperson said: “This government is determined to shift health out of hospitals and into the community as set out in the 10-year-health plan.“As set out in our 10-year infrastructure strategy, we are exploring the feasibility of using new public private partnership (PPP) models for taxpayer-funded projects in very limited circumstances where they could represent value for money, such as in certain types of primary and community health infrastructure or for decarbonising the wider public estate.“The design and development of any future PPP models will build on lessons learned from past and current models.
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Starmer accuses ‘spineless’ Farage of failure to tackle racism in Reform party
Nigel Farage has been accused of being “spineless” by the prime minister and a “coward” by Dulwich college contemporaries over his response to allegations of racism.Keir Starmer said the Reform UK leader had “questions to answer” about alleged comments and chants as a teenager that include songs about the Holocaust, and accusations of bullying towards minority ethnic schoolboys.He added that Farage had a “track record” when it came to racism, pointing to his failure to discipline his fellow Reform MP Sarah Pochin after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts.Speaking to reporters on the way to the G20 summit in Johannesburg, Starmer said: “He needs to explain the comments, or alleged comments that were made, and he needs to do that as soon as possible. He hasn’t got a good track record in relation to this because Sarah Pochin, his MP, made some clearly racist comments and Nigel Farage has done absolutely nothing about it
UK politics: Reeves ‘not even sure what the popular path is’ on the budget – as it happened
The UK cannot continue to “muddle through” and must take “a different path” on the economy, the chancellor has said.Ahead of her second budget on 26 November, Rachel Reeves told the Times that the country could not continue on its current trajectory. But she admitted she was “not even sure any more what the popular path is” amid calls for a wealth tax from some politicians and heavy tax and spending cuts from others.In the interview published on Friday, Reeves said:I’m not even sure any more what the popular path is.There are lots of people who say cut taxes and the economy will grow, but what spending would they cut? Borrowing is too high, but you can’t cut it overnight
Reform UK’s former Wales leader jailed for taking bribes for pro-Russia speeches
Reform UK’s former leader in Wales Nathan Gill has been jailed for 10 and a half years for taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia when he was an MEP.Gill, a key member of the Ukip and Brexit party groups led by Nigel Farage in the European parliament, had pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.Police believe Gill received the equivalent of at least £30,000 and could have got even more from Oleg Voloshyn, a former Ukrainian MP and alleged Russian asset. He remains under investigation but is now believed to be in Moscow.Immediately after Gill was jailed, the defence minister Al Carns called on Farage’s party to launch a thorough investigation to guarantee that pro-Russia links were rooted out of Reform
Rachel Reeves sick of people ‘mansplaining’ how to be chancellor
Rachel Reeves has said she is sick of people “mansplaining” how to be chancellor to her as she prepares to deliver her budget next week.Reeves made the comments in an interview with the Times in which she spoke of the pressure of being the UK’s first female chancellor and the subject of constant political attacks.She said it motivated her “a bit” to show she was making the right decisions to those “boys who now write newspaper columns” or describe her as “Rachel from accounts”.“I recognise that I’ve got a target on me,” she said in the interview with Tom Baldwin, a journalist and former Labour communications adviser to Ed Miliband.“You can see that in the media; they’re going for me all the time
Lib Dems to force vote on creating new customs union with EU
The Liberal Democrats are forcing a vote in parliament on creating a new customs union to put pressure on Labour MPs to take a more pro-EU stance.Ed Davey’s party is writing to all Labour MPs urging them to back a new bill in favour of a customs union with the EU, believing this is the best way to boost growth and raise revenue, rather than tax rises.The bill, tabled by Al Pinkerton, the Lib Dem spokesperson on Europe, will be voted on by MPs in early December, two weeks after the budget. It is largely symbolic and not likely to pass because it does not have government support.However, the Lib Dems are hoping to demonstrate support among pro-EU MPs for the idea of a new customs union
Labour MPs urge Reeves to drop private finance plans for NHS buildings
Rachel Reeves has been urged by 40 Labour MPs to drop plans to fund NHS buildings with private finance initiatives (PFI) that would saddle the health service with debt.The Labour MPs, including Cat Eccles, Clive Lewis and Rebecca Long-Bailey, pressed the chancellor to commit to investment in the NHS without the use of private capital and warned that a return to the New Labour era of private funding for public projects would be damaging for trust in the government.“We are asking you to learn from the mistakes of the past. We must reject the notion that private finance can be used to build public services in a way that can be to the long-term benefit of the public,” they said in their letter. “We ask you to please drop any plans for new private finance in the NHS from the autumn budget and any future policy
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