‘Vote Yes to protect NHS from privatisation’

by Mandy Nimmo, Staff Nurse The NHS in England is being privatised through the back door by the Tories. I’m voting Yes because I want to protect the NHS from cuts and privatisation. An NHS free at the point of need is a principle many of us hold dear, with private health care and profiting from illness the abhorrent antithesis of this principle.

The headlong rush towards the privatisation of the NHS, kickstarted by Labour’s PFI and followed to a developing conclusion by the Tories will be to the detriment of us all. The Scottish Parliament has afforded us some protection from cuts and privatisation and even some advances like free prescription charges.

This is not enough though, with pledges of ongoing public sector cuts from the three main Westminster parties, only independence will allow us to protect and expand our NHS. I’m sick of getting governments that we don’t vote for, and I believe we have the resources and ability to become an independent country at the same time ending Tory rule.

Independence will give the people of Scotland the ability to elect a government that reflects our aspirations and make the NHS the centrepiece of a commonly owned health service prioritising care over balance sheets. I want a country where a publicly owned NHS is seen as a priority, something I believe can’t be achieved under the Tories.