Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/656/11102
From The Socialist newspaper, 2 February 2011
The madness of King George cuts
The four-year campaign to keep the accident and emergency department open at King George hospital, east London, continued on Saturday with another demonstration from the hospital to Ilford town centre. Also at stake are maternity and other services.
This plan will devastate local health care. Ambulance drivers have reported that they have been diverted back to King George when the nearest alternative, Queen's in Romford, cannot cope. The plans by the primary care trust will affect at least 700,000 people who face a significantly longer - and in some cases potentially fatal - journey to Whipps Cross hospital in Waltham Forest or to Queen's.
The anger of local people has forced the two local MPs - Tory Lee Scott and New Labour's Mike Gapes - to back the campaign. And they do so without a hint of irony.
It was down to two Socialist Party speakers to point out that successive governments - from Thatcher in the 1980s, the Blair/Brown administrations, and now the Con-Dem coalition - have systematically eroded public healthcare. Their comments really struck a chord with the crowd.
Although the supposedly final decision to close these essential services has been taken, it has yet to be ratified. Con-Dem cuts cost lives - the campaign continues.
Manny Thain
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In The Socialist 2 February 2011:
International socialist news and analysis
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Defend the NHS!: Fight the Con-Dem cuts
The madness of King George cuts
Anti-cuts campaigning
Scottish Anti-Cuts Alliance established
Stop attacks on disabled claimants
Liverpool: Jobs axe must be fought
No to the racist EDL! Unite to fight the cuts
Protesting against all of the cuts
Socialist Party news and analysis
Tommy Sheridan jailing: Political vendetta ends in draconian sentence
TV Review: Posh and Posher Why Public School Boys Run Britain
Socialist Party feature
'Struggle or starve!' 1932 - when Birkenhead workers beat the means test
Socialist Party youth and students
Young people march for a future
Tories have no solutions to youth crime
Police attack 'save EMA' protest in Leeds
Socialist Party workplace news
Unison self-destructs at TSA but unionism stronger than ever
Defending jobs at Leeds council
Ford challenged in legal bid: Pay the Visteon pensioners now!
Arriva Trains Wales - strike called off
Discussing an electoral challenge to service cutters
Socialist Party Marxist analysis
'In reality, Britain is facing a savage economic ice age'
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