Tories are the best for the NHS, says Cameron in speech

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:55 AM on 20th August 2009

David Cameron will today launch a forthright defence of the NHS, just days after critics within his party dismissed it as a '60-year failure'.

The Tory leader will insist his is the 'party of the NHS' - facing down those on his backbenches calling for health service cuts to reduce the need for tax rises.

And, in a move to establish himself as the 'heir to Tony Blair', he will claim only the Tories have the ideas for market reform to improve the NHS in the future. 

On the defence: David Cameron will defend the NHS just days after it was criticised my a member of his own party

He is due to say at Bolton Town Hall this morning: 'We believe in the NHS. We understand the pressures it faces. And we have a plan to make the changes it needs.'

Tory Euro MP Daniel Hannan embarrassed the party leadership a week ago when he appeared on U.S. TV to join forces with critics of President Obama's healthcare reforms.

He called the NHS a failure that he 'wouldn't wish on anyone', leading Health Secretary Andy Burnham to call on Mr Cameron kick the rogue MEP out of the Conservative party.

Then it emerged that several shadow cabinet members wrote a book with Mr Hannan that said the NHS was 'no longer relevant in the 21st century'.

But today Mr Cameron will stand by his policy of real-terms rises in NHS spending. He will say: 'We are the only party committed to the resources the NHS needs, and the only party with a plan for the reform the NHS needs.'

Some in his party, including Lord Tebbit, have called for cuts to public services - including health - as a result of the recession, rather than the tax increased that would otherwise be needed.

But in his speech, Mr Cameron is expected to say: 'Spending on the NHS cannot stand still, because standing still would be taking a step backwards.

National outcry: Anti-NHS comments sparked protests by people in favour of the free service

'That is why we have pledged real-terms increases in NHS spending, unlike Labour - a fact which, to put it mildly, takes the wind out of their point-scoring sails.'

He will praise some of the reforms set in train by Tony Blair, such as giving hospitals more independent by allowing them to become elite foundation trusts, or reducing waiting lists by bringing in private providers to administer hip and cataract operations.

But he will say much-needed reform has ground to a halt under successor Gordon Brown - the man who insisted on Whitehall targets many claim cripple doctors and nurses.

'I don't want to be unfair in my criticisms of Labour,' he will say. 'They have the best intentions, and they have done some good with the NHS.

'But they and their reforms have come to the end of the line. Our health service is crying out for the next stage of change.

I believe we have shown that we are the ones to bring about that change, and that we have earned the right to call ourselves the party of the NHS today.'

He added: 'So we are the party of the NHS today because we not only back the values of the NHS, we have a vision for the future of the NHS. We are the only party committed to the resources the NHS needs, and we're the only party with a plan for the reform the NHS needs.'

Among the reforms the Tories are planning are the establishment of an independent board for the Health Service, to take politicians out of its day-to-day running.

They will scrap NHS waiting time targets and instead pay hospitals based on medical outcomes, such as how quickly someone recovers from cancer. More private providers will be invited in.

But Mr Cameron also wants to see people's private health records handed to companies such as Google - a policy which has drawn criticism.

Last week, shadow Chancellor George Osborne tried to regain the initiative by saying the Conservatives were now the progressive party - leading Lord Mandelson to describe him as a 'political cross dresser'.

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