Winning Labour's second term
By Diane Abbott MP

Education is not only about Oxbridge
Jim Mortimer looks at the recent controversy over admissions to elite universities

Northern Ireland Policing Bill breaks with Patten
Brendan O'Leary of the London School of Economics analyses the Policing Bill's omissions

Westminister urged — follow Scotland and scrap S28
Jim Whannel reviews the Scottish Parliament's repeal of section 28

Women lose out in selections

The Franchise for people not capital
Alan Simpson MP argues now is the time to return to questions of class and core values

Asylum injustice behind Dover tragedy
The death of 58 people is a clear indictment of inhuman immigration and asylum policies argues Lee Jasper

Policy forum urged to support welfare state
Ann Black looks forward to the National Policy Forum

Restore the pensions — earnings link
Rodney Bickerstaffe, Gen Sec. of UNISON argues for restoring the earnings/pensions link

Why euro membership is unrealistic
Kelvin Hopkins MP says there is no possibility of Britain joining the euro for the forseeable future

Private companies profit from schools
Paul Atkin, Islington NUT argues that the government is carrying out an unprecedented privatisation of education

National Missile Defence —
US dream is global nightmare
Mathew Pellling, Vice Chair CND looks at the US undermining of the ABM treaty

Poland's coalition government collapses
Gavin Rae reports on the breakdown of the Polish government coalition

CWU members show concern at government policy
Steve Bell Branch Secretary, South East Wales Amal. CWU report on conference

Grudging moves to ban hunting
Gordon Prentice MP writes about his frustration with the government's failure to move more rapidly on banning hunts.

Although the romance with Middle England may have ended — punctuated by the Women’s Institute experience — ‘New’ Labour’s infatuation with the private sector sadly goes on. The latest example of this infatuation is the announcement that the National Health Service is to use private sector beds to try to cope with the waiting list for operations. Only the doctrinaire, ministers imply, could have any objection. In truth, it is ministers who are being doctrinaire if they believe that use of private beds is the answer to the systemic problems of the National Health Service.

The private sector is not offering these beds for free, or even at cost. Part of the public money paid to the private sector will go as profit.

Why should public money be spent in this way? Ministers have yet to explain why it is better to allow private firms to rake off public money rather than use it to employ the extra doctors and nurses needed to enable the NHS to open more new wards.

The central problem for the NHS is one of funding. It cannot afford the doctors and nurses. Ministers would not have to go near the private sector to deal with waiting list cases if they paid nurses enough to attract the thousands of them who have left the profession because of poor pay. There are plenty of trained nurses out there who have left the profession because of increasing pressures and poverty pay.

And, of course, there are very many black nurses who have left because of the racism. There are also currently record numbers of foreign nurses working in British hospitals. This is because British nurses are no longer prepared to do it for the money.

The private sector will not help deal with these fundamental problems. On the contrary, the private sector is indirectly implicated in the shortage of nurses, because thousands leave the NHS every year for the private sector. The private sector does not spend a penny on training nurses or doctors. It is entirely parasitical on the NHS for this.

The saga of the Private Finance Initiative is deepening these problems.

Both Conservative and Labour governments have been guilty of thinking that the PFI is some kind of free money scheme. In fact, it is a glorified form of hire purchase. It is really only suitable for capital schemes with a natural revenue stream. It is completely unsuitable for hospitals.

PFI’s profit imperative is in conflict with the needs of the communities who rely on NHS services. As PFI funded hospitals come on stream, they are found to have fewer beds and frequently end up costing more than if they had been built in the public sector. PFI is simply building up debt for the future. Yet, with their doctrinaire attachment to the private sector, ministers refuse to hear a bad word about the PFI.

In the run-up to the previous general election, many party supporters were concerned by how close the ‘New’ Labour elite was to business and by its enthusiastic courtship of newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. Many consoled themselves that this was just a smart tactic by our leader. Once in power, they thought, he would pursue broadly Labour Party aims. Unfortunately the sad truth is becoming clear: ‘New’ Labour’s embrace of the private sector was no tactic at all. It is a real love affair. It is, however, one which is not shared by Labour’s core voters.