View From The House - 9th May 2002

Reprinted From The Lichfield Mercury

Last week (on the morning of the 30th April) I was in Westminster Hall for a rare occasion: to celebrate the 50th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Only two monarchs previous to her have reigned for 50 years: Queen Victoria and King George III. (By the way, the "Madness of King George" a play and then a brilliant film portrayed only the last few years of his life. For most of the time, George III was an enlightened and modern king who preserved the monarchy while revolution and carnage was the order of the day in France). In some ways, it was all rather Gilbert and Sullivan. Twenty minutes before the Queen and Prince Philip arrived, Her Majesty's Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms paraded up the central aisle wearing scarlet uniforms with heavy gold epaulets, helmets with white ostrich feathers, and carrying pike staffs. Their average age was in their 70s. There then followed men of the Yeoman of the Guard (so called "Beefeaters") all accompanied by music from the Band of the Grenadier Guards playing - among other things - Men of Harlech, a particular favourite of mine. Incidentally, am I alone in thinking our National Anthem is a dirge? What a shame the words couldn't have been set to the tune of Rule Britannia sung so gustily in Beacon Park last year……… But I thought to myself as I sang 'God Save the Queen' how lucky we are to have a Queen rather than a political head of state. President Blair? I don't think so.

I found myself sitting near the front amongst a group of Labour MPs and on these occasions we all get on very well. Cross Party fellowship, however, did not extend to the debate on the budget a week earlier. Gordon Brown's tax increases will be worth it if we achieve a world class health service. But I don't think we will and nor do health experts.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have said that the money allocated will just not do the job. The NHS is too big, too clumsy, and with too many administrators and too few doctors and nurses. It is the biggest employer in Europe. And the irony is: the 1% increase in Employers' National Insurance will hit the NHS really hard. Without a fresh rethink about how the health service should work in Britain, nothing much can be achieved except political rhetoric. The NIESR reckon a further 6p rise income tax will be necessary to achieve any results with the present system. I hope they are wrong.

Meanwhile, the two acid tests as to whether the health service in Lichfield and Burntwood remain: (1) will we keep some in-patient (hospital) facility in Burntwood; and (2) will we keep our maternity unit and day surgery care in Lichfield? If we don't, and patients have to be shipped off to Good Hope or wherever, the Government and the Budget will have failed us.

As I have said in Parliament: "At a time when Lichfield and Burntwood's population is growing with thousands of new homes being built in our area, we should be debating what new services should be set up - not fighting to keep the few services we already have".