New Health Slip-up

I'm grateful to Alastair for bringing this latest Tory spending slip-up to my attention.

The Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley let that cat out of the bag in a Today interview about Cameron's 10% spending cuts a few weeks back, which I'm glad to see, Labour continues to highlight whenever it gets the chance.

So you'd think Lansley would have learnt his lesson by staying away from journalists.

But no. He's only given an interview saying he would give a blank cheque for NHS pay rises.

He told the Health Service Journal:

"In truth pay determination shouldn’t be set in line with financial allocations, it should be set in line with what is necessary to recruit, retain and motivate the workforce that you require. It’s a fallacy to say the amount of pay for 2012-13 depends on how much money the government has.

Realising that's a spending committment the Tories can't keep in their 'Age of Austerity', he then rows back with a 'clarification' that he actually meant any wage increase should be BELOW the rate of the overall increase in NHS funding, saying:

“The problem in recent years has been that staff pay has simply increased in line with the huge rises in the NHS budget. In these times of increasing financial pressure we need to ensure that we move to a situation where pay is instead defined by what is necessary to recruit, retain and motivate the staff, and also what is affordable for local healthcare providers. Future NHS allocations will not be able to accommodate inflationary staff costs."

Or - to put it simply - the Labour Government gave NHS staff too many pay rises so get ready for real term pay cuts.

So it's official Conservative policy - the Tories will cut NHS pay.

This in itself is a remarkable achievement. The correction is even worse than the original gaffe!

It's yet another example of the mask slipping to reveal the real face of the Tory Party.

First, a rising star in the Tory Party and senior MEP described the NHS as a "60 year mistake" that "made people iller."

Then senior Conservatives tried to abolish the minimum wage because it breached worker's human rights! Thankfully our Wage Concern campaign with Usdaw shamed them into pulling the Bill.

But I agree with Alastair. If you put the slightest bit of pressure on the Tory's plans, they all start to fall apart.

We've got to keep putting the spotlight on them and exposing their policies to the public - on the doorsteps, on the social networks and in the media.

Which is were YOU come in. So pass this on and let's make it news.