150 people attended a rally yesterday in the centre of Hartlepool to protest against the decision of the new coalition government to block the building of a new £460m North Tees and Hartlepool hospital which had been given the go ahead by the previous Labour government. All Labour leadership candidates except Ed Miliband attended and spoke along with Clare Williams, UNISON Northern convenor and NEC member.
The hospital was to be built without resort to the private finance initiative (PFI) and it is further evidence of the support of the coaltion government for a radical neo liberal agenda that PFI hospital building programmes have been given the go ahead. Andrew Lansley, when shadow minister for health had confirmed the project would be supported if the Conservatives won the election but has clearly been overruled by Chancellor Osborne.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/tees/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8747000/8747821.stm
The hospital trust chief executive has said he is now exploring a PFI scheme and has indicated the government is supporting this.
Andy Burnham, speaking at the rally, said he had given approval when Health secretary for the project to go ahead after a rigorous analysis and that there was clear evidence the PFI would not deliver value for money.
In a rousing speech Clare Williams said this was further evidence of the ideological attack the new government has launched on the public sector. She said the government has no mandate for its slash and burn cuts policies nor for the privatisation of public services and called for a united camapign involving trade unions service users and community groups and polticians to hold the government and particularly Liberal Democrat MPs to account, to break the coalition and force another early general election.
