BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY Andrew Lansley was heckled mercilessly outside Downing Street in London today amid ongoing protests against the government’s plans to to reform the health service in the UK.
The Conservative Party MP was attending a meeting with health groups to discuss reforms to the National Health Service (NHS) earlier today.
As he attempted to enter Downing Street, he was accosted by one woman who said she had “had enough” of him while others shouted “shame” as he headed for the gates that lead to No. 10.
This clip from Sky News details the incident:
Afterwards, he was backed by his Prime Minister David Cameron who insisted that the reforms to the health service would go ahead despite significant opposition from a number of groups representing health workers, many of whom were not invited to the No 10 summit.
The bill currently going through the Westminster parliament has been significantly amended but its central aims include handing control of NHS budgets to consortia of GPs and opening up the provision of services to competition from the private and voluntary sector.
Those against the reforms argue that it will lead to the privatisation of health care which is free at the point of access to people in the UK.
The woman who heckled Lansley was later identified as Jean Hautot, a former trade union representative, who told the BBC: “The NHS is supposed to be from cradle to grave. It doesn’t matter who’s in power; we’re here to save the NHS.”
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