{"id":8996,"date":"2016-06-14T16:47:16","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T15:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8996"},"modified":"2016-06-15T12:53:11","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T11:53:11","slug":"safer-to-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8996","title":{"rendered":"Safer to remain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The NHS is safer if the UK stays in the EU, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said today (June 14) at a TUC event, where he was joined by health workers, MPs \u00c2\u00a0and trade union leaders, including Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

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The Labour Party leader hit out against leaders of the Leave campaign who have said that a Brexit would mean more money for the NHS.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMost of the Leave side \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Tory right and UKIP \u00e2\u20ac\u201c don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even want there to be an NHS,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argued.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe millionaire funder of the Leave side, Arron Banks said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098If it were up to me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d privatise the NHS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Corbyn pointed out. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNigel Farage called for an insurance-based system to replace the NHS.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMichael Gove is co-author of a book that says the NHS is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no longer relevant in the 21st century\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015b[This is] a book which calls for the NHS to be replaced by a new system of health provision in which people would pay money into individual health accounts.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd it was Boris Johnson who said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098If people have to pay for NHS services, they will value them more\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA Vote to Leave is a vote to put our NHS in jeopardy, in the hands of those who want to break it up to end it as a service free at the point of use.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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‘Listen to NHS staff’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Corbyn praised the work of NHS staff, a significant portion of which hails from the EU.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked for NHS staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the NHS has helped me and my family,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t advocate Remain unless I knew our NHS was better off that way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFifty-two thousand EU nationals work in our NHS, as doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. They contribute to our country and save our lives.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEU nationals are 4.7 percent of our population,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Corbyn added.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYet they are five percent of NHS nurses and ten percent of NHS doctors.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you care about our NHS, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just listen me, listen to NHS staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c every NHS workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 union and royal college is backing Remain.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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One such NHS worker at the TUC event was Unite member Beverly Wallace, a biomedical scientist, who knows from first-hand experience just how important membership in the EU is for the work she does.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK is at the heart of the EU research network,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe get more health research funding from the EU than any other European country. That money goes straight to universities and places like Great Ormond Street Children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hospital, which they can use to integrate primary care into the development of new medicines.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe money that helps patients comes from Europe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Britain doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough funds to do it on our own,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDiseases do not respect borders, but working with other EU countries we can beat them. When it comes to health, we should be cooperating more with Europe, not less.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\"Unite

Unite member and biomedical scientist Beverly Wallace with Jeremy Corbyn<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

This was a point echoed by TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady. She highlighted that last year alone, the UK received \u00c2\u0141232m of EU money for health research and development, which, she said was the \u00e2\u20ac\u015blargest slice of funding received by any member state.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She argued that proper funding for the NHS depends on a strong economy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c after what leading economists unanimously predict to be an economic shock following a potential Brexit, public spending, especially for an already chronically underfunded health service, would take a nosedive.<\/p>\n

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‘Fantasy economics’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s event at the TUC was held just hours after prominent Leave campaigner and Tory employment minister Priti Patel struggled to explain<\/a> on the Today programme her campaign\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promises.<\/p>\n

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The Leave campaign has previously pledged that an extra \u00c2\u0141100m each week would become available for the NHS if the UK withdrew from the EU.<\/p>\n

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When asked to clarify how she could guarantee such funding when it is actually governments which make such decisions and not the Leave campaign, she stumbled, noting only that the government of the day will have \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe options and choices about how they will spend that money\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Commenting on Patel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims, Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail called the Leave campaign\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pledges \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfantasy economics\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, which she said were also \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcruel and deceitful\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015b[Patel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s] government has starved the NHS of funds and created chaos with a needless reorganisation that has cost it billions that ought to have gone to patient care,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe is part of a government that has alienated doctors and will place trainee nurses in financial ruin.\u00c2\u00a0 How dare she ask for our members and our communities\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 votes?<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI believe that Unite members and the public generally can see through this shameful and hypocritical sham,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Cartmail added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe NHS is under threat.\u00c2\u00a0 But not from Brussels.\u00c2\u00a0 It is under threat from this government and its agenda of cuts and privatisation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\"Unite

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail<\/p><\/div>\n

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Unite general secretary Len McCluskey also seized on Patel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments from today.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe and the Leave campaign expect us to believe that they will magic up \u00c2\u0141100m for our NHS on the day we leave the EU,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut this spending\u00c2\u00a0 is not her decision to make; the government of the day will decide that.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, the money we get back from the EU goes to farming, fishing, the Northern Ireland peace process, tourism, science, the arts, and support for needy communities,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey explained.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat cash can they expect in her brave new world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it looks like they will be left the crumbs.\u00c2\u00a0 This will kill our communities.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPriti Patel illustrated today the dishonour at the heart of the Leave campaign,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argued.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe is making promises to people who want to be listened to, not fobbed off with magic beans.\u00c2\u00a0 This is unethical.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Don’t trust them<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

McCluskey explained why the union was calling on Unite members to vote Remain.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will not let our members wake up on June 24th to discover that their futures are now in the hands of Johnson, Redwood, Patel and Gove,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese are members of a government that has served them dreadfully for the past 6 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they are advocates of and addicted to the most miserable austerity, the real reason why our hospitals are at breaking point and wages are still to recover from pre-crash levels.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy message to our members and to working people everywhere is do not give them your vote,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey added. \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey do not deserve your trust.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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    \n
  • Pics by Mark Thomas<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The NHS is safer if the UK stays in the EU, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said today (June 14) at a TUC event, where he was joined by health workers, MPs \u00c2\u00a0and trade union leaders, including Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.   The Labour Party leader hit out against leaders of the Leave campaign who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[486,465,75],"wps_subtitle":"Corbyn: Don't trust Brexiters with NHS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8996"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9006,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8996\/revisions\/9006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}