27 September 2002
During a lengthy debate at the party's annual conference in Brighton on September 25, members backed a motion calling for the NHS to be funded by a ringfenced National Insurance contribution and for local authorities to take over the commissioning of primary care.
Under the party's plan, elected regional governments would replace the Department of Health across all but a few functions.
English regional and local governments would be able to vary national taxes to fund extra public services and offer higher salaries to recruit and retain staff.
Non-profitmaking organisations would also be encouraged to provide public services under the LibDems' plan.
But the conference defeated an attempt to go further. Southport MP John Pugh tabled an amendment to oppose 'the wholesale transfer of services out of the public sector.'
'You can call anything a partnership nowadays and it becomes unobjectionable,' Pugh told delegates. 'Why are teachers and nurses somehow "producers", and Capita and Bupa something different?'
But Chris Huhne, MEP for South East England, who led the policy's development, argued that this would frustrate innovation and diversity. He told the conference: 'We want a radical decentralisation of power. The lines of control, command and complaint in the NHS are too long. The sheer scale of the NHS means it cannot deliver a standard service.'
l Earlier in the week, the party voted to reject all experiments with compulsory postal voting and voting by phone or e-mail.
Lord Greaves, who has raised allegations of malpractice in Pendle, where he is based, argued: 'It is essential that when I cast my vote I cast it myself, in secret. There can be no guarantee with post, phone or e-mail that the person who casts a vote is the person that owns that vote.'
PFsep2002
