Labour's Andy Burnham: Tories have lost right to represent
The Conservatives have 'forfeited' their right to represent part of the Black Country because of the row over shamed candidate Afzal Amin, Labour's shadow health secretary has said.
Andy Burnham condemned the delay in the resignation of Dudley North Tory candidate Afzal Amin and said the party should have got rid of him immediately.
Mr Burnham was in Wolverhampton's Queen Square yesterday where he was backing the party's candidates and MPs in the General Election.
He said: "The Conservative party has forfeited the right to represent this community.
"To see them actively stoking resentment, it's the most unpleasant thing.
"I can't understand why there was a delay. The evidence spoke for itself.
"It's a face of the Tory party that's not isolated to Dudley. The party is often ruthless in the pursuit of its own interests and was happy to sacrifice community cohesion along the way."
On a visit to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley he also outlined plans for Labour to create a 'national health and care service' and said the party would provide 800 more GPs in the West Midlands as a result of the proposed 'mansion tax'.
Mr Burnham also said the party would be fighting for the NHS.
He told the Express & Star he wanted to create a national health and care service to end bed blocking in hospitals and ensure older people were given the right support.
He said despite the pledge that health service funding would be preserved, cuts imposed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to council budgets had hit social care and resulted in more people seeking hospital treatment.
After addressing union members at Russells Hall Hospital, where it is feared as many as 400 people could lose their jobs under plans to save £12 million a years, Mr Burnham said: "I want organisations like Russells Hall to evolve into the community and take on social care staff, potentially take on GPs, working working from home to hospital to give the full range of care."
He added: "We are committed to re-instating the 48 hour guarantee and will ensure there are 800 extra GPs across the West Midlands."
The GPs would be funded through the 'mansion tax' where homes worth in excess of £2 million are hit with an annual levy. It would not affect any properties in the Black Country but would hit some in surrounding rural areas.
He said he was opposed to George Osborne's plan to allow councils to take control of all the health budgets in their area.
Greater Manchester has applied for such powers and Staffordshire County Council is also interested.
But Mr Burnham said it would create a 'Swiss cheese effect'.
He said: "I believe in the N in NHS. I believe in the National Health Service, not a collection of local services.
"Osborne is doing deals that will unpick the foundation of the NHS.
"I believe in devolution but it's better led at local council level rather than by new bodies at city region level.
"We don't want another chief executive telling everyone what to do.
"My plan is very different from the Osborne plan."
He said he wanted to combine the NHS and council budgets for care for all of one person's needs.
"The time has to end where we say to families that the council does this bit of your mum and dad's care and the NHS does this bit.
"It just doesn't work for people. It's wasteful of resources because you have individuals working out of silos and taking responsibility for different bits of people's needs.
"I don't see how the NHS can survive with an ageing society if it does not make the changes I am proposing."
