NHS prime concern

In the run-up to the Rochester and Strood by-election, a new survey reveals what really matters to the constituency’s voters—the NHS and its future.

 
The survey, which was conducted by Survation on behalf of Unite, showed that “the quality of local NHS hospitals and GP services” was voters’ top concern, with 37 per cent rating the health service most important. Immigration followed, with 25 per cent rating it their primary voting issue.

Other issues rated as most important in the upcoming election included employment opportunities, quality of local schools and crime.

Rochester and Strood’s voters are vehemently opposed to the NHS’ inclusion in a US-EU trade agreement known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The health service’s inclusion in what may potentially be the largest bilateral trade agreement ever negotiated would mean the sell-off of key parts of the service to profit-hungry American privateers, as UNITElive has previously reported.

In the survey, excluding those who said they didn’t know, a full 76 per cent said they were opposed to the inclusion of the NHS in TTIP. Roughly the same percentage of respondents believed David Cameron should use his veto power, as granted by the EU, to exclude the health service from the agreement.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey argued that the poll’s results were indicative of something bigger.

“The future of our NHS is what really matters to voters and their families in Rochester and Strood, and it’s going to be what really matters to voters at the next general election,” he said.

“This is not an isolated poll,” he added. “A majority of voters across a number of marginal Tory constituencies all want the government to protect the NHS from TTIP.”

Indeed, the results of the poll are not simply a local quirk—a previous poll conducted by Survation in August of voters in 13 marginal Conservative-held seats, also found widespread opposition to privatising the NHS via TTIP. A full 77 percent thought Cameron should use his veto power to exclude health service from the trade agreement.

The Rochester and Strood by-election is to take place on November 20, after Conservative MP Mark Reckless announced in September he would be standing down to defect to the Ukip party. The by-election is seen to be a close contest between Ukip and the Conservative party—even though, ironically enough, establishment politicians in both parties support the inclusion of the NHS in TTIP.

McCluskey argued that both Ukip and Conservative politicians are out of touch with their constituents and the public in general, which will prove to be their undoing in 2015.

“It’s ‘the party that fights most for the NHS’ not ‘the party that fights most against immigration’ that will win the next general election,” he said.