My pledges as a workers' MP for Chorley - NHS Pay

Chorley voters have been writing to me to ask that I pledge support for issues that are of particular concern to them. So that they are on the record for all voters, I am posting my response on some of the key issues here, on my blog:

NHS PAY

As a long-standing teacher trade unionist, I fully support the strike action being taken by NHS workers to secure a decent pay rise and am standing on a platform that includes the call for inflation-proof pay rises, and opposition to NHS cuts and privatisation.

As a NEU officer and member, I have helped organise strike action over pay, workload and privatisation. I have helped organise joint protests and attended NHS picket lines, from the first Junior Doctors' strikes (when I was then NEU London Regional Secretary) right up until the latest strikes.

As a KONHP member, I have also helped organise protest stalls highlighting the threats to our crumbling NHS, not least the plans by both parties to use the inevitable problems that come with underfunding and understaffing as an excuse to further widen NHS privatisation.

As a workers' MP for Chorley I would use my position as a platform to speak up for workers in action.

My campaign will be highlighting the issues of NHS cuts and privatisation, including the threats to bed numbers and services from the New Hospitals Programme across Lancashire.

As a final note, my father worked with Nye Bevan in Tredegar on health and housing, so the demand to go 'Back to Bevan' and for the fully funded free and public NHS, decent housing and social care for all - that they fought for - is a very personal one for me too.

So, yes, I fully endorse your demands and hope that, unlike a 'Speaker' who is restricted in their role by 'impartiality', I can be a champion for the NHS and both its users and workers in Chorley and beyond.

[ See also my pledge on Defending Our NHS here: https://www.mpdnut.com/2024/06/my-pledge-as-workers-mp-for-chorley.html ]

Martin Powell-Davies

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Candidate for Chorley