"£15 billion to bring NHS to French levels" says SLP (Socialist Labour Party):
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A UK socialist splinter group, the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), would invest an extra £15bn ($27.66bn) per year in the National Health Service. The pledge to "bring NHS funding up to the level of French healthcare provision" is one of the key promises of a manifesto that seeks to re-strengthen former socialist policies, ahead of the forthcoming general elections, set to take place in early 2005. The SLP would cut national defence spending by two-thirds and plough it directly into the NHS, a party spokesperson told Clinica. By-elections in Kingston-upon-Thames borough (Surrey) on November 11 are being billed as an important chance to challenge the dominance of the governing Labour Party, with healthcare policy, including the Foundation hospital reforms, as key themes. The SLP was established in 1996, in response to what were regarded as anti-Socialist amendments to the traditional Labour Party's constitution.