Friday, December 29, 2006

Don't blame me

I didn't vote for them.

The Times:

The Government was plunged into deepening crisis over NHS cuts last night after it emerged that three Cabinet ministers and four Labour MPs have joined local campaigns against hospital closures in their own constituencies.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairman, and Jacqui Smith, the Labour Chief Whip, were accused of hypocrisy by opposition MPs, health campaigners and unions for supporting government policies in Whitehall but protesting against their effects in their constituencies. They variously joined street demonstrations, handed in petitions or lobbied health ministers to stop NHS closures affecting the people who elected them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

what else have we come to expect? Although isn't Reid entitled as responsibilty for the Scottish NHS lies with the Scottish parliament? Sort of West Lothian question in reverse?

Peter Risdon said...

Good point, the reverse West Lothian question. What an extraordinary constitutional muddle.