This mornings news that a Labour Peer is calling for a £10 monthly ‘membership’ charge to be added to the Council Tax bill to help fund the NHS has a number of implications. Quite apart from the organisational challenge presented to Local Government to collect the money on behalf of the NHS and the increase in taxation there is the question why this money could not more effectively be collected through income tax arrangements by central Government. The NHS is a national agency and our expectation is that local taxation funds local services. Whilst this is not in practice the way in which the funding works, there is still a massive question about the suitability of this approach. As Lord Warner pointed out during his interview on Radio 4, those unable to pay this additional £120 a year would be exempt, which is one more complication for local town halls to grapple with. Yet Income Tax is already collected in a manner that ensures that those earning the most, pay the most. The current arrangements regarding the NHS are that we all pay taxes and some of those taxes fund the NHS. Simples.

What Justin Webb failed to ask Lord Warner was if he had any interests in changing a system which is mostly free at the point of need, and available to all of us, to one to which we are obliged to subscribe to as members. After all this sounds and looks very similar to the idea of private health care. If one has private health care at present, the cost of the NHS is still paid through our income tax. Presumably the idea would be that if I had private health care, I would be able to opt out of the NHS membership scheme? This is surely just a brazen attempt to privatise the NHS. When Lord Warner was challenged by Jackie Davies who is the programme lead for the NHS in Wales, about those unable to pay this fee, his defence was that he was a Labour Peer and of course concerned to ensure that those unable to pay do not need to do so. If the implication which Lord Warner wanted to suggest was that Labour Peers would not consider turning a public asset into a private service, let us consider what Lord Warner does for a living (when he is not being paid attendance for his work as a legislator):

Deloitte, the business advisory firm, is today announcing the appointment of Lord Warner as a strategic adviser to its public sector practice. Lord Warner will work with Deloitte’s clients enabling the successful delivery of health and social care policies. Lord Norman Warner of Brockley is a Labour Peer. He was Minister of State for Reform in the Department of Health from May 2005 until December 2006. Mike Turley, head of Deloitte’s public sector practice, commented “Lord Warner’s wealth of experience in formulating and delivering successful health and social care policies will be invaluable to our clients. His insights will inform our thinking and ensure we remain at the forefront of developing solutions to the many complex and challenging issues facing Government and the wider public sector. It is testament to our track record in the market and the strength of our public sector practice that we can attract someone of Lord Warner’s calibre.” Lord Warner said “I am delighted to be working with Deloitte. It enables me to continue being involved in the agenda of improving public services. There has long been a need for the public services to learn from the experience of the independent sector. I would also hope that I can play a part in an area that has long interested me – bringing health and social care closer together for the benefit of service users.” (July 2009)

Alternatively, Norman Warner explained a year ago why he was voting for NHS Competition regulations, despite this being against the policy of his own party.

The details of Norman Warners proposed reform can be found here on the Reform website. Reform is proud to publish the following quote from George Monbiot “The only rightwing thinktank that did well was Reform, which sent me a list of its biggest corporate donors. Reform lists its other corporate sponsors in its annual review(14), and earns 4 points. If they can do it, why can’t the others?” It is clear from this list of donors that Reform is working on behalf of the private health care sector, not on behalf of you or me!

Is it too much for a Peer of the Realm to come clean about their motivations and those companies funding his proposals, without a Radio Interviewer needing to probe, or for an investigative news channel to do a bit of probing before they interview someone like Norman Warner? I think not!