UK election: Jeremy Corbyn reveals 'radical' Labour manifesto

Exactly three weeks before Britain votes for a new parliament, the opposition Labour Party has published its election manifesto in Birmingham, pledging a "radical" programme to transform the UK.
Among the policies promised by party leader Jeremy Corbyn are plans to renegotiate Brexit within three months, create a million new "green" jobs, and levy a one-off "windfall" tax on oil companies.

Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from Birmingham, UK.

#Brexit #Corbyn #LabourManifesto

[DJ-xnvu]

IM VOTING LABOUR - the party that has policies that benefit everybody

[zenderbender]

Even though I don't like Labour but I'd choose Corbyn over compulsive liar like Bojo anyday.

[ptokrgu]

These innovations, especially the "fund holder" option, were condemned at the time by the Labour Party. Opposition to what was claimed to be a Conservative intention to privatise the NHS became a major feature of Labour's election campaigns.

Labour came to power in 1997 with the promise to remove the "internal market" and abolish fundholding. In a speech given by the new Prime Minister,  Tony Blair, at the Lonsdale Medical Centre on 9 December 1997, he stated that:

The White Paper we are publishing today marks a turning point for the NHS. It replaces the internal market with "integrated care". We will put doctors and nurses in the driving seat. The result will be that £1 billion of unnecessary red tape will be saved and the money put into frontline patient care. For the first time the need to ensure that high quality care is spread throughout the service will be taken seriously. National standards of care will be guaranteed. There will be easier and swifter access to the NHS when you need it. Our approach combines efficiency and quality with a belief in fairness and partnership. Comparing not competing will drive efficiency.

— Tony Blair, 9 December 1997[13]

However, in his second term Blair pursued measures to strengthen the internal market as part of his plan to "modernise" the NHS.

Driving these reforms were a number of factors including the rising costs of medical technology and medicines, the desire to increase standards and "patient choice", an ageing population, and a desire to contain government expenditure. Since the national health services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not controlled by the UK government, these reforms have increased the differences between the national health services in different parts of the United Kingdom. (See NHS Wales and NHS Scotland for descriptions of their developments).

Reforms included (amongst other actions) the laying down of detailed service standards, strict financial budgeting, revised job specifications, reintroduction of a modified form of fundholding – "practice-based commissioning", closure of surplus facilities and emphasis on governance. In addition Modernising Medical Careers medical training had an unsuccessful restructuring which was so badly managed that the Secretary of State for Health was forced to apologise publicly. It was then revised but its flawed implementation left the NHS with significant medical staffing problems. Some new services were developed to help manage demand, including NHS Direct. A new emphasis was given to staff reforms, with the Agenda for Change agreement providing harmonised pay and career progression. These changes gave rise to controversy within the medical professions, the media and the public.

The Blair Government, whilst leaving services free at point of use, encouraged outsourcing of medical services and support to the private sector. Under the Private Finance Initiative, an increasing number of hospitals were built (or rebuilt) by private sector consortia; hospitals may have both medical services (such as independent sector treatment centre (ISTC or "surgicentres"), [14] and non-medical services (such as catering) provided under long-term contracts by the private sector. A study by a consultancy company which worked for the Department of Health showed that every £200 million spent on privately financed hospitals resulted in the loss of 1000 doctors and nurses. The first PFI hospitals contained some 28 per cent fewer beds than the ones they replaced.[15]

In 2005, surgicentres treated around three per cent of NHS patients (in England) having routine surgery. By 2008 this was expected to be around 10 per cent.[16] NHS primary care trusts have been given the target of sourcing at least 15 per cent of primary care from the private or voluntary sectors over the medium term.

As a corollary to these initiatives, the NHS was required to take on pro-active socially "directive" policies, for example, in respect of smoking and obesity.

The NHS encountered significant problems with the information technology (IT) innovations accompanying the Blair reforms. The NHS's National Programme for IT (NPfIT), believed to be the largest IT project in the world, is running significantly behind schedule and above budget, with friction between the government and the programme contractors. Originally budgeted at £2.3 billion, present estimates are £20–30 billion and rising.[17] There has also been criticism of a lack of patient information security.[18] The ability to deliver integrated high quality services will require care professionals to use sensitive medical data. This must be controlled and in the NPfIT model it is, sometimes too tightly to allow the best care to be delivered. One concern is that GPs and hospital doctors have given the project a lukewarm reception, citing a lack of consultation and complexity.[19] Key "front-end" parts of the programme include Choose and Book, intended to assist patient choice of location for treatment, which has missed numerous deadlines for going "live", substantially overrun its original budget, and is still (May 2006) available in only a few locations. The programme to computerise all NHS patient records is also experiencing great difficulties. Furthermore, there are unresolved financial and managerial issues on training NHS staff to introduce and maintain these systems once they are operative.

Between 2004/5 and 2013/4 NHS output increased considerably. Hospital admissions increased by 32%, outpatient attendances by 17%, primary care consultations by 25% and community care activity by 14%. Hospital death rates reduced, especially in stroke. At the same time there was an increase in wages of 24% and an increase of 10% in the number of staff and increases in the use of equipment and supplies. As a whole NHS output increased by 47% and inputs by 31%, an increase in productivity of 12.86% during the period, or 1.37% per year.[20]

[soundbite]

Labour always runs local areas badly, unless its Chelsea.

[BodybuildingSteve]

I'm only voting for him because I'm lazy and want to work 4 days a week

[abdullahghalib]

Labour has made claiming benefits life aspirations for some in society and that some is growing. I honestly hope they dont win otherwise we will be in a big mess yet again like years before.

[punictunic]

Jeremy Corbyn - the Time Lord taking us back to the 1970's. More Dr What than Dr Who, because he is clearly clueless on how to run an economy.