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Green Party pledges free prescriptions for all

5 June 2017

* Caroline Lucas: “This Government is fining people for falling sick”

* Molly Scott Cato: “Prescription charges undermine the principle of universal free healthcare”

* Event details: 2pm, Easton Day & Night Pharmacist, 192 Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0NY [1]

Caroline Lucas will announce the Green Party’s plans to scrap prescription charges as part of its commitment to a national health service that’s genuinely free at the point of use.

Lucas will accuse the Government of fining people for being sick and creating barriers which stop people accessing the medication they need.

GPs have warned that the £8.60 prescription charge in England [2] is forcing some people to make a choice between food and medication [3].

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have already scrapped prescription charges, and the Green Party wants to adopt the same scheme in England.

Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, is expected to say:

“Let me start by saying my thoughts remains with all those affected by the horrific acts in London yesterday. It is with a heavy heart that I speak to you today, but one which knows how important it is not to let those who seek to divide us succeed, or our democracy be cowed by fear.

“So I am here today to talk to you about the NHS. Every day this Government is fining people for falling sick by charging for prescriptions. GPs have warned that prescription charges force some patients to choose between spending their earnings on food – or essential medical treatment. This is not acceptable. It’s also a false economy because not taking prescribed mediation can cause people to miss work and lead to additional GP or hospital appointments.”

Lucas will announce the Green Party plans while visiting a community pharmacy in Bristol with Molly Scott Cato MEP.

Molly Scott Cato, Green South West MEP and Bristol West candidate, is expected to say:

“The NHS was founded on the principle of universal access to free, publicly funded and provided health care at the point of use. Prescription charges in England undermine that principle and the Green Party would not make people pay for access to vital medication.”

Scrapping prescription fees would cost an estimated £550 million annually [4]. The Green Party argue these costs could be more than met by getting rid of the NHS internal market – a move which would save an estimated £4.5bn according to the Centre for Health and the Public Interest [5].

ENDS.

For more information contact: press@greenparty.org.uk / 0203 691 9401

Notes:

1. Event details: 2pm, Easton Day & Night Pharmacist, 192 Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0NY.

The Green Party has suspended national campaigning until Sunday night after the London terror attack. We are in discussion with the other parties and if campaigning does not resume tomorrow another email will be sent.

2. http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/Prescriptioncosts.aspx

3. http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/commissioning/commissioning-topics/prescribing/prescription-charges-adversely-impact-on-patient-care-say-40-of-gps/20007736.article

4. https://www.sruk.co.uk/media/filer_public/ca/f8/caf8a735-b265-40f6-8d52-40d69152060f/20170428_letter_from_prescription_charges_coalition_-_rt_hon_jeremy_hunt_-_conservative.pdf

5. https://chpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/At-what-cost-paying-the-price-for-the-market-in-the-English-NHS-by-Calum-Paton.pdf

 

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Sturgeon ramps up prospect of Labour/SNP deal

5 Jun 2017

JCChoice

Nicola Sturgeon has ramped up the threat of the SNP propping up Jeremy Corbyn in return for a second independence referendum in an interview on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour this morning.

Asked whether she would do a deal, she commented: “If the parliamentary arithmetic post the election supported this, I would want the SNP to be part of a progressive alternative to a Tory government.”

She added “I’m talking something that would be…on an issue by issue basis.”

With regards to the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister propped up by the SNP, she said “It’s no longer inevitable” that the arithmetic would not support it.

Paving the way for the deal, she positioned the SNP as trailblazing for Labour: “Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto…many of the key commitments in that, are policies that the SNP is already implementing in Scotland.”

She also dismissed the idea that there should be no second referendum – even if unionist parties got over 50 per cent of the vote.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw MSP said: 

“It could not be clearer. The SNP are actively lining up to do a deal with Labour to get a second independence referendum – because they know that Jeremy Corbyn as PM is ‘absolutely fine’ with a second referendum.

“Across Scotland, only the Conservatives can stand up against the SNP now.

“So if you’ve had enough of Nicola Sturgeon, use your vote on Thursday to send Nicola Sturgeon a message she can’t ignore: we’ve had enough – take a second independence referendum off the table and get back to the day job”
 

The BBC interview can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08sks0y

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Scottish Conservatives

Labour launches New Deal to fix the housing crisis

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey will today (Monday 5 June 2017) launch ‘Labour’s New Deal on Housing’ – the party’s long-term plan to fix the housing crisis. They will promise to give priority to those let down most by failings in the housing market and in Conservative housing policy.  

Setting out more detail on the Party’s plans to deal with the country’s housing crisis and build at least a million new homes, the published plan will include: 

·         A New Deal for first-time buyers on ordinary incomes, including 100,000 new discounted FirstBuy Homes, a two year stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers, and an extension and re-focusing of Help to Buy so that it is only for first-time buyers;

·         A New Deal for those 1.2 million on council waiting lists with a huge increase in affordable housebuilding to be building 100,000 genuinely affordable homes a year by 2022, including the biggest council housing programme in over 30 years;

·         A New Deal for private renters with a consumer rights revolution including three-year tenancies with an inflation cap on rent rises and new minimum property standards.

 Labour will also criticise Conservative Minsters for “seven years of failure” on housing, and highlight that since 2010 we have seen:

·         Housebuilding at the lowest level under any political party in peacetime since the 1920s;

·         The lowest level of new affordable housebuilding in 24 years;

·         Almost 200,000 fewer home-owners, with 900,000 fewer under 45s owning their own home;

·         Rents rising faster than incomes for many;

·         More families forced into temporary accommodation, with 120,000 children spending last Christmas without a home of their own; and

·         Rough sleeping homelessness more than doubled.

 Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

 “A Labour government will start on fixing the housing crisis immediately. High prices, excessive rents and the chronic lack of affordable housing are ruining the lives of young people, families and aspiring homeowners.

“As part of our massive housebuilding commitment, Labour will ensure 100,000 FirstBuy Homes are available at discounted rates to local first time buyers. This will transform the housing market and put the needs of younger house buyers and local workers first.

“Labour will usher in a new era in council housebuilding to build more council homes than at any time for over 30 years so that the broken market is fixed to provide homes for the many, not investment opportunities for a wealthy few.”

 John Healey, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, said:

“After seven years of failure, the Conservatives have no plan to fix the housing crisis and Theresa May only offers more of the same. Labour offers a New Deal on housing between the people of this country and a new government. It is a bold, long-term plan for housing to help those being let down most by a broken housing market and failing Conservative policy – young first-time buyers, private renters and people needing new social rented homes.

“Our first Labour housing priority will be help for young first-time buyers. Under the last Labour government, a million more families became home-owners but now the Tories are failing first-time buyers on middle incomes. Under the Conservatives since 2010 homeownership has fallen by 200,000 with younger families on ordinary incomes the hardest hit.

 “Labour’s new FirstBuy Homes will give aspiring first-time buyers on ordinary wages who’ve been failed for the last seven years hope that things can change.

 “After seven years of failure, a Labour government will shift the housing market decisively towards first-time buyers on ordinary incomes.”

 Ends

 Notes to editors

·         ‘Labour’s New Deal on housing’ will be launched today (Monday) by Jeremy Corbyn and John Healey.

·          More than two-thirds of people now believe there’s a housing crisis, and Labour has a strong lead as the best Party to handle the housing crisis: [https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/mdbxkz6bif/YG%20Trackers%20-%20Best%20Party%20On%20Issues.pdf]

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Labour •