PFI HOSPITALS: THE DEBT THAT KEEPS ON COSTING

The SNP has released figures showing the horrific costs that our NHS will have to repay for Labour’s disastrous PFI. Over £1 billion will be taken out of the health budget in the next five years.

Over the next five years more money will leave the NHS in repayments for the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Wishaw General and Hairmyres Hospitals than the capital cost of the projects themselves – with more payments in years after that as a result of Labour’s PFI and PPP deals.

Between 2010-11 and 2014-15

• NHS Lothian will pay £228 million for Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary – despite the capital cost of the hospital being only £206 million overall.

• NHS Lanarkshire will pay £136 million for Wishaw General – a project worth £121 million and

• £106 million for Hairmyres, worth only £68 million.

So, when we warned them that this was a completely mad scheme, that the companies which had agreed to be involved in the it were laughing all the way to the bank, and that a 10 year old kid of average intelligence could see that it was madness, we were right.

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said:


“These new figures from the Scottish Parliament, based on information from the Treasury show the legacy Labour has left for Scotland.

“Over a billion of repayments in the next five years is a devastating hit to the NHS budget – particularly at a time when budgets will be under increasing pressure as a result of Labour’s economic mismanagement.

“PFI is typical of Labour’s irresponsible buy now, pay later approach to public spending.

“The NHS will pay more to banks in repayments over the next five years for three hospitals than those hospitals are actually worth. That is an example of the profligacy and incompetence that characterised Labour’s financial management and that Scotland’s public services are now paying for.

“After taking out repayment policies like this Labour has no credibility left on public spending and must answer to NHS staff and patients who are left facing up to Labour’s outrageous debts."

Pics of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Wishaw and Hairmyers Hospitals from the air.

IF THIS IS THEIR SECRET WEAPON, LOOK OUT FOR SOME SHOCK AND AWE

For some reason beyond my comprehension, Labour has decided to rehabilitate Tony Blair in an effort to help them win the election.

He made his first intervention criticising the Tories for inconsistency and indecision while praising Gordon Brown for experience, judgment and boldness at the Labour Club in his old constituency in Sedgefield.

He said that during his decade in power he had always been known as an optimist, and he was still optimistic about Britain. (So would I be if I have a hundredth of his money.) He said: "Strange as it might seem, the financial crisis does not diminish this optimism. We are not out of the woods yet; but we are on the path out.” (Easy to say when none of it hurt you at all!)

Mr Blair's analysis is that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling made the right decisions during the financial crisis and should now be trusted to lead the recovery. (Except of course that if Brown wins the election, Alistair Darling won’t be anywhere, and we’re looking at Ed Balls for chancellor.)

"At the moment of peril the world acted. Britain acted," he said. "The decision to act required experience, judgment and boldness. It required leadership. Gordon Brown supplied it." (Ye gads, while he was swanking round the world making money with our security guards looking after him, did he even look at the newspapers?)

He accused the Tories of going to the right over Europe; going liberal when actually they should have stuck with a traditional Conservative position on law and order; and on the economy, of worrying too much about public opinion (That’s rich!)

He further accused them of being confused compared to Labour which had “chosen its path. It is mapped out. It is consistent. It is solid. It matches a strong commitment to public services with a strong commitment to reform."

Mr Blair listed Labour’s achievements so far: reduced crime, higher standards in schools, hospital waiting lists reduced from 18 months to 18 weeks. (All English only issues. He didn’t mention illegal wars or soldiers’ deaths, or MPs who think that they should not have to face the courts.)

He said that the country needed strong leadership. (He seemed to have forgotten that it is Brown we are talking about here; Brown who is renowned the world over for his dithering, for his inability to decide about anything except when he loses his temper.)

I wonder how much Labour is paying him for this intervention. I’m not sure that it is money well spent. Many people see Blair at best as insincere, at worst as a war criminal with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and British soldiers on his hands. Almost everyone must be disgusted at the way he has made money (estimated at £20 million) since he left office and that he had all his expenses paperwork destroyed, including repairs to his house the week before he left office.

I’ve never met anyone who likes him and the comments on the Times article which is my source for this post seem to bear that out.

I wouldn’t want him in my corner. Would you?

Pic: Brown and Blair; Blair; Blair: Blair and Brown (And now I'll put my Iraq experience at the service of the Isaeli-Palestinian cause)

"We have big plans for this country - and we intend to see them through”

Not if I can help it!

Gordon Brown yesterday set out a raft of vague policies couched in management speak and called pledges, and he promised “Prosperity under Labour and Austerity under the Tories”.....

Sheeesh! Sometime I wonder what planet the man is from... if indeed any.

He made these pledges legally binding on a Labour government too. Right! The only problem is that, later, when Ed Miliband was asked on radio if, given that they were legally binding, failure to deliver would mean that the government would be in court, Ed said, no, but we could kick them out of office....

Erm, what Ed?.... I thought we could do that anyway.... It’s called democracy.... you know, what we now have in Iraq, Afghanistan and the UK... or don’t, actually, but that’s another rant.

So in reality the legal obligation thing is a gimmick that us thick “ordinary” people are not supposed to see through.

Here they are, then, along with my immediate thoughts. If you have your own to offer then you know I’d be delighted to hear them:

1. Secure the economic recovery and halve the budget deficit of £167 billion through economic growth, fair taxes and cuts to lower priority spending.

[Well, whoever gets in is going to have to do the first half of that, otherwise we will be broke. If the Retirement Pension rise completely nullified by tax increases (by failing to raise the allowances) is your idea of fair taxes, I doubt I’ll like that policy much.]

2. Raise family living standards, with low mortgage rates, increased tax credits for families with young children, helping first-time buyers and re-linking the state pension with earnings from 2012.

[How will you know if you have raised family living standards? What will the indicators be? And why not raise single people’s standards too? How can you help first time buyers when building societies ask 10-15% deposits, houses are £100-150,000, and there are student loans to repay? You can’t guarantee mortgage rates as they're commercial, and you’ve been promising to look at the pensions/earning link since Barbara Castle embarrassed you into it 13 years ago....]

3.Build a "high tech" economy, with support for businesses and industry in creating one million new skilled jobs; the delivery of high-speed rail, a green investment bank and broadband access for all.

You will create a million jobs, but your plans for downsizing the civil service and putting everything on line will lose between 1-2 million jobs. So, how does that work? The high speed rail is in England only right? How will you get broadband to all and how will they use it given that computers cost £400-£1,000, and broadband costs £30 a month? Try living on our planet for a while! And a green bank? Lord save us from another bloody bank!]

4. Protect frontline investment in policing, schools, childcare and the NHS, as well as a guarantee of cancer test results within a week.

[Can you imagine any government which would not guarantee investment in all these things? And did you know that police, schools, childcare and the NHS are absolutely nothing to do with you in OUR country? Are all these pledges just for England, or is this another "presidential debate" moment?]

5. Strengthen fairness in communities through an Australian style points-based system to control immigration, guarantees of education, apprenticeships and jobs for young people, and a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

[Will you remember that the UK is not London and that immigration issues are different depending on where you live? Why have you not cracked down on anti-social behaviour before given that it makes the lives of millions of people unbearable? Are you remembering that policing is nothing to do with you in my country? Where will the apprenticeships be? Where will the jobs be?]

Please Gordon. Slip out into the real world quietly in disguise and find out what the hell is going on. Then go back and think again. If you can’t do that then shut the hell up and stop telling us fairy stories. We’ve heard them all before.

Remember “Things can only get better”?

Pictured: (Click on to enlarge) Labour Pledge Card, and some demented North British muppet.

PS: Don't forget to change your clocks if you're in the UK: (Spring forward, Fall back!)