# Labour announces plan to scrap prescription charges in England



## Northerner (Sep 22, 2019)

Labour has promised to scrap prescription charges in England if it wins power.

The move would bring England into line with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where they are free.

Currently, prescriptions cost £9 per item in England, unless patients opt into the NHS pre-payment discount scheme.

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-announces-plan-to-scrap-prescription-charges-in-england-11816537

Sounds like they heard you, @mikeyB


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## everydayupsanddowns (Sep 22, 2019)

Hehe! Yes the other day’s thread was just what I immediately of!


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## Andy HB (Sep 22, 2019)

..... and then they should scrap parking fees at hospitals. Or, atleast in certain reasonable circumstances. For example, going to A&E, visiting long term sick relations etc.


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## mikeyB (Sep 22, 2019)

Most hospitals have free parking in Scotland, though there's never enough. The problem in England is that many hospital car parks are run by private companies, so the leasing arrangements probably preclude freebies. If you make them free, the cost of maintenance falls on the hospital.


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## Ljc (Sep 22, 2019)

At the hospital I go to they charge £2 a day for visitors, disabled  and patients alike any profit go to the hospital  so I really don’t mind paying this. When I lived in London it  cost £ 5 an hour up to a max of £20 to park in a rather dilapidated hospital car park run by a private company.


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## Jodee (Sep 22, 2019)

Do you think labour said that knowing its gonna be difficult to get the meds anyway - or is that another scare mongering tactic.

I say don't vote labour if you want BREXIT and I still do.  That is what the majority voted for and that is what the politicians should deliver.  It was their idea to put it to the vote and we voted so the least any party / every party should honour that vote.  they should all get their act together and deliver, gees they get paid enough, not to fight each other but to government the country in its best interest and that of the people, honouring the majority vote.  Its not about their individual preferences or that of their party at all.


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## Bruce Stephens (Sep 22, 2019)

Jodee said:


> Do you think labour said that knowing its gonna be difficult to get the meds anyway - or is that another scare mongering tactic.



The Labour party very much wants to talk about things that aren't brexit, so I'm pretty sure this policy isn't anything to do with brexit.


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## Lilian (Sep 22, 2019)

According to a newspaper report, Labour are intending to make hospitals and the areas surrounding them as emission free zones and put a charge on every vehicle entering that area so scrapping parking fees would be completely irrelevant.      At the moment (according to my local CCG) the majority of prescriptions are exempt anyway, so scrapping the charge for the NHS is not going to make a significant dent in their finances, only to the individuals who have to pay.   That is the reason they are trying to encourage doctors not to prescribe things that can be bought over the counter unless the patient has a chronic condition that needs a continuous supply.


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## Bruce Stephens (Sep 22, 2019)

Lilian said:


> At the moment (according to my local CCG) the majority of prescriptions are exempt anyway, so scrapping the charge for the NHS is not going to make a significant dent in their finances, only to the individuals who have to pay.



I think that's well accepted (and is often used as an argument when prescription charges are increased: most people don't pay them anyway). Presumably the experience in Scotland could offer some evidence on whether removing the charges would actually cost money overall, and (if so) how much. (Obviously there is a cost when patients choose not to take drugs they've been prescribed. That seems harder to put economic figures to, but politically it seems quite a strong argument, and very Labour.)


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## nonethewiser (Sep 22, 2019)

Smacks of desperation by a desperate party, even as a life long labour supporter really wouldn't want that rabble in government.


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## Jodee (Sep 22, 2019)

I don't think any one believes a darn word any politician says these day from any party, including labour.


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## Bruce Stephens (Sep 22, 2019)

nonethewiser said:


> Smacks of desperation by a desperate party, even as a life long labour supporter really wouldn't want that rabble in government.



Fortunately (or unfortunately) the polling suggests Labour is well behind the Conservatives (I'm guessing that's still the case after the Conservatives threw out 21 MPs who weren't quite crazy enough) and Corbyn's personal score is horribly negative. (Boris Johnson's below the water too, but Corbyn's (astonishingly) worse.)


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## Northerner (Sep 22, 2019)

Bruce Stephens said:


> Fortunately (or unfortunately) the polling suggests Labour is well behind the Conservatives (I'm guessing that's still the case after the Conservatives threw out 21 MPs who weren't quite crazy enough) and Corbyn's personal score is horribly negative. (Boris Johnson's below the water too, but Corbyn's (astonishingly) worse.)


It's not really surprising when you have had the combined might of 90% of the billionaire-owned press smearing him on a daily basis for the past 4 years - I wonder why?  It was significant in 2017 when there were press restrictions during the election that Labour overturned a 20 point deficit in the polls during the campaign. I honestly cannot understand how anyone can express support for a party that has led us into this mess - by voting against their OWN deal, let's not forget - and now led by a proven liar ('there's no press here').


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## mikeyB (Sep 23, 2019)

Indeed. How folk can vote for a party which has capped benefits while food prices rise, a party which privatised everything bar fresh air. This gave us the worst rail system in Europe. BR was in profit when it was privatised, and had introduced the InterCity 125, which was so good it’s still in service. It gave us the profiteering water, gas and electric companies, who instead of competing on price, formed cartels to protect profits. The water companies formed regional monopolies, no choice. 

Hospital waiting lists have increased steadily since the Tories returned to power. Food banks are increasing exponentially, and are now considered a normal way of life.

That’s no way to run a country, yet folk just take it. Jeremy Corbyn is full of plans to make life better for ordinary folk, but that’s never reported. What I  do know is that businesses are far less worried about a Corbyn government than a no deal Brexit.

And let’s not hear any more about the will of the people. 37% of the population voted for Brexit, and that was mainly in England. Every constituency in Scotland voted remain.


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## karloc (Sep 23, 2019)

mikeyB said:


> And let’s not hear any more about the will of the people. 37% of the population voted for Brexit, and that was mainly in England. Every constituency in Scotland voted remain.


And only 35% of the registered voters voted to Remain a member of the European Union.


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## Northerner (Sep 23, 2019)

karloc said:


> And only 35% of the registered voters voted to Remain a member of the European Union.


Indeed, but they knew what they were getting. How many of the 37% will be getting what they thought they were getting because they believed the lies and false promises of the Leave campaign? Zero percent


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## karloc (Sep 23, 2019)

0% too me appears to be just not possible and a totally made up stat.
I could just make up some random percent of the 35% that ticked the wrong box - but why bother.
No one actually knows what your getting either way - stuff changes, that's life.


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## Bruce Stephens (Sep 23, 2019)

karloc said:


> And only 35% of the registered voters voted to Remain a member of the European Union.



In a vote where the prevailing view was that Remain would probably win. (That view wasn't what polls were really showing, but it was the view anyway.)

And that all confirms the general polling (which hasn't changed much) that the UK's roughly split in thirds: 1/3 want to leave, 1/3 want to remain, 1/3 don't hold a strong opinion.


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## karloc (Sep 23, 2019)

Bruce Stephens said:


> In a vote where the prevailing view was that Remain would probably win. (That view wasn't what polls were really showing, but it was the view anyway.)
> 
> And that all confirms the general polling (which hasn't changed much) that the UK's roughly split in thirds: 1/3 want to leave, 1/3 want to remain, 1/3 don't hold a strong opinion.



I have no facts about the prevailing view at the time - but I have seen it quoted both ways depending what people are trying to justify - so I have no idea other than from people I know.

Who believes in polls these day - except the press and the spin doctors


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## mikeyB (Sep 23, 2019)

Bruce Stephens said:


> In a vote where the prevailing view was that Remain would probably win. (That view wasn't what polls were really showing, but it was the view anyway.)
> 
> And that all confirms the general polling (which hasn't changed much) that the UK's roughly split in thirds: 1/3 want to leave, 1/3 want to remain, 1/3 don't hold a strong opinion.


Not at all. You refer to England, not the UK. Every constituency in Scotland voted to remain, as did most in Northern Ireland. Pollsters rarely cross the border of the M25. In both those countries the numbers were around 2/3 remain, 1/3 the rest. That’s the main reason Scotland will become independent, apart from the visceral dislike of being governed by Tories in London. It’s wrong to think of the UK voting to leave. Brexit is an almost entirely an English idea, so it should be just England that leaves the EU.


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## karloc (Sep 23, 2019)

mikeyB said:


> Not at all. You refer to England, not the UK. Every constituency in Scotland voted to remain, as did most in Northern Ireland. Pollsters rarely cross the border of the M25. In both those countries the numbers were around 2/3 remain, 1/3 the rest. That’s the main reason Scotland will become independent, apart from the visceral dislike of being governed by Tories in London. It’s wrong to think of the UK voting to leave. Brexit is an almost entirely an English idea, so it should be just England that leaves the EU.



I thought most inside M25 wanted remain so maybe that why pollsters know nothing 
I am surprised that Scotland have not voted to leave the UK tbh but maybe its the anti union stories I hear the most. So difficult to know a broader perspective of how people feel.


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## Bruce Stephens (Sep 23, 2019)

mikeyB said:


> Not at all. You refer to England, not the UK



The result of the referendum (not far off 1/3 for Leave and for Remain) seems to me to support my assertion that it's for the UK as a whole. You're right that there was a majority for Remain in Scotland and NI; that was balanced by a larger than average vote for Leave in England (it was Leave in Wales, but I forget how large the majority was).

So sure, if we had proper devolution then England and Wales would be leaving with NI and Scotland remaining. (And maybe the larger English cities would also be remaining.) If Parliament had thought that Remain might lose, maybe they'd have required a majority in each devolved region, or some minimum (40% of those eligible to vote, say) and we wouldn't be in this mess.


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## mikeyB (Sep 24, 2019)

Particularly as the mantra from England before the last independence referendum in Scotland was that if Scotland became independent, it would have to leave the EU. Aye, right. 

Now the EU says Scotland would be welcome in the EU. This has not been reported in English newspapers. It fulfils entirely the conditions required, and not a single EU country would veto the application.

If you were, say, a Scottish farmer, who would you trust to supply support money - the EU or an English government? 

Is it any wonder why they want independence?


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## Northerner (Sep 25, 2019)

mikeyB said:


> Particularly as the mantra from England before the last independence referendum in Scotland was that if Scotland became independent, it would have to leave the EU. Aye, right.
> 
> Now the EU says Scotland would be welcome in the EU. This has not been reported in English newspapers. It fulfils entirely the conditions required, and not a single EU country would veto the application.
> 
> ...


I'm guessing that, if there is an NI-only backstop - effectively keeping NI in the EU - then Scotland will have an even better case for independence


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