National Health Action Party

Last updated

National Health Action Party
AbbreviationNHA
Co-leadersAlastair Fischer and Veronika Wagner
Founded14 May 2012
Headquarters Kidderminster [1]
Ideology Re-nationalisation of the NHS
Environmentalism
Anti-austerity
Reformism
Colours  Blue
Local government (England & Wales)
10 / 19,370
[Note 1] [Note 2]
Website
http://www.nhaparty.org

The National Health Action Party (NHA) is a political party in the United Kingdom.

Contents

The party grew out of the movement opposing the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. [2] It campaigns for renationalisation of the privatised parts of the English National Health Service, reductions in outsourcing, and improvements to NHS funding, service provision and staffing. [3] [4] Despite focusing on health, the party has a range of policies in areas such as the economy, housing and education. These include opposition to austerity and a call for political reform. [5]

History

Alex Ashman (left), Iain Maclennan (center) and Clive Peedell (right) campaigning during the 2013 Eastleigh by-election. Alex Ashman, Iain Maclennan and Clive Peedell in Eastleigh Feb 2013.jpg
Alex Ashman (left), Iain Maclennan (center) and Clive Peedell (right) campaigning during the 2013 Eastleigh by-election.

The passage of the Health and Social Care Act in March 2012 prompted the party's co-founder Clive Peedell, a cancer specialist doctor, to co-write an open letter to The Independent alongside esteemed medical signatories. [6] The letter was highly critical of the Liberal Democrats for their role in the passage of the Act and stated that the signatories would "form a coalition of healthcare professionals to take on coalition MPs at the next General Election, on the non-party, independent ticket of defending the NHS and acting in the wider public interest". Two months later, on 14 May 2012, Peedell co-founded the NHA Party with retired doctor Richard Taylor, who had twice been elected as MP for Wyre Forest on an 'independent health' component to his local hospital party name. [2] The party was launched in Westminster in November 2012. [7]

The party first stood in the 2013 Eastleigh by-election, with candidate Dr Iain Maclennan taking 392 votes. [8] The party went on to stand in the 2014 European Parliament elections and the 2015 General Election, taking over 20,000 votes in each. This placed the party seventh in the popular vote in England in the latter. [9] The party's best result to date was the 7,211 votes taken by Dr Richard Taylor in Wyre Forest in 2015 (he had been the MP from 2001 to 2010 under the label Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern). [10]

Party co-founder Dr Clive Peedell resigned the leadership in July 2016, and Dr Paul Hobday was appointed as interim leader. [11] Surgical registrar Dr Alex Ashman was elected as the new permanent party leader in December 2016 [12] and promised to continue the work begun by Drs Peedell and Taylor. [13] Dr Ashman resigned as leader in 2019 and was replaced by co-leaders Alastair Fischer and Veronika Wagner.[ citation needed ]

Supporters have included authors Mark Haddon [14] and Philip Pullman, [15] satirist Armando Iannucci, [16] science writer Marcus Chown [17] and comedian Rufus Hound. Hound stood as an NHA Party candidate in the London constituency for the 2014 European elections. [18]

Policies

The party has a range of policies on healthcare, political reform, the economy, immigration, housing, education and environmental sustainability. [5] [19] [20]

Health

Political reform

Economy

Electoral performance

General election results

YearCandidatesTotal votesAverage votes per candidate % of total voteAverage % vote per candidateSaved DepositsNumber of MPs
2015 [9] 1220,2101,6840.13.2620
2017 [21] 516,1193,2240.15.6420

2015 general election

NHA campaign launch 2015. From left to right: Richard Taylor, Paul Hobday, John Lamport, Clive Peedell, Helen Salisbury, Karen Howell, Roseanne Edwards, Louise Irvine, Dave Ash. National Health Action Election Campaign Launch 2015.jpg
NHA campaign launch 2015. From left to right: Richard Taylor, Paul Hobday, John Lamport, Clive Peedell, Helen Salisbury, Karen Howell, Roseanne Edwards, Louise Irvine, Dave Ash.

The party stood 12 candidates in the 2015 general election. [22] Targeted seats included those of leading proponents of the Health and Social Care Bill such as David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt. The candidates were: [23]

CandidateConstituencyVotes%
Dave Ash Sutton and Cheam 3450.7%
Roseanne Edwards Banbury 7291.3%
Rik Evans Truro and Falmouth 5261.0%
Rebecca Fox Camberwell and Peckham 4660.9%
Dr. Bob Gill Old Bexley and Sidcup 1,2162.6%
Dr. Paul Hobday Maidstone and The Weald 5831.2%
Karen Howell Stafford 1,7013.5%
Dr. Louise Irvine South West Surrey 4,8518.5%
Dr. Clive Peedell Witney 6161.1%
Dr. Helen Salisbury Oxford West and Abingdon 7231.3%
Dr. Richard Taylor Wyre Forest 7,21114.6%
Dr. Carl Walker East Worthing and Shoreham 1,2432.5%

Among the twelve candidates, the party won no seats and only saved two deposits (i.e. won more than 5%). Their best result came in Wyre Forest, where Dr Taylor (who had previously won the seat twice for the Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern party) came 4th with 14.6% of the vote. Dr Irvine came 4th with 8.5% in South West Surrey.

2017 general election

The party stood five candidates at the 2017 general election. [24] Food blogger and activist Jack Monroe was announced as the NHA Party candidate for Southend West, [25] but withdrew due to ill health and receiving death threats. [26] The candidates standing were:

CandidateConstituencyVotes%Change from 2015
Dr Louise Irvine South West Surrey 12,09320.0%Increase2.svg11.5%
Dr Carl Walker East Worthing and Shoreham 5751.1%Decrease2.svg1.4%
Mark Jarnell South Ribble 3410.6%n/a
Dr John Dean Central Devon 8711.5%n/a
Neal Stote Redditch 2,2395%n/a

Local election results

YearCandidatesTotal votesAverage votes per candidateAverage % vote per candidateNumber of Councillors
2014 71,17716860
2015 46381603.10
2016 00N/AN/A0
2017 1228228220
2018 00N/AN/A0
2019 134434460
2022 1219

European Parliament election results

YearLondon constituencyMEPs elected
2014 23,2530

By-election results

ConstituencyDateCandidateNumber
of votes		 % of
votes		Position
Eastleigh 28 February 2013Iain Maclennan3920.96th
Witney 20 October 2016Helen Salisbury4331.16th

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Taylor (British politician)</span> British politician (born 1934)

Richard Thomas Taylor, MBE, FRCP is an English medical doctor and politician. He served as an independent Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest between 2001 and 2010. He was co-leader of the National Health Action Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Lansley</span> British Conservative politician

Andrew David Lansley, Baron Lansley, is a British Conservative politician who previously served as Secretary of State for Health and Leader of the House of Commons. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2015.

Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, is a political party based in Kidderminster, United Kingdom. The party was founded in 2000, having grown out of the campaign to restore the casualty unit at Kidderminster Hospital. Since 2015 it has successfully contested local elections within the Wyre Forest local government area, which includes Kidderminster.

David Anthony Lock KC is a barrister and former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Esher Grammar School, Woking Sixth Form College, Jesus College, Cambridge, Polytechnic of Central London and went on to Gray's Inn as a Wilson Scholar in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Hunt</span> British politician (born 1966)

Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt is a British politician serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2012, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2012 to 2018 and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Surrey since 2005.

Dr Foster Intelligence is a provider of healthcare information in the United Kingdom, monitoring the performance of the National Health Service and providing information to the public. It was launched in February 2006 and is owned by Telstra. Dr Foster aims to improve the quality and efficiency of health and social care. It monitors the performance of the National Health Service and provides information to the public. In 2010, the Dr Foster 2010 Hospital Guide was launched in The Observer newspaper and on the BBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthcare in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of healthcare in the United Kingdom

Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences have developed between these systems since devolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Health Service (England)</span> Publicly-funded healthcare system in England

The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. Primarily funded by the government from general taxation, and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS provides healthcare to all legal English residents and residents from other regions of the UK, with most services free at the point of use for most people. The NHS also conducts research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Wollaston</span> British Liberal Democrat politician

Sarah Wollaston is a British former Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Totnes from 2010 to 2019. First elected for the Conservative Party, she later served as a Change UK and Liberal Democrat MP. She was chair of the Health Select Committee from 2014 to 2019 and chair of the Liaison Committee from 2017 to 2019.

The 1999 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Wyre Forest District Council in Worcestershire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Lee (politician)</span> British politician

Phillip James Lee is a British doctor and politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bracknell from 2010 until 2019. A former member of the Conservative Party, which he left in 2019 to join the Liberal Democrats, he unsuccessfully stood for the neighbouring Wokingham constituency in the 2019 general election.

This is a summary of the electoral history of David Cameron, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He was the member of parliament (MP) for Witney from 2001 to 2016, and has served as the Foreign Secretary in the Sunak ministry since 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health and Social Care Act 2012</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for the most extensive reorganisation of the structure of the National Health Service in England to date. It removed responsibility for the health of citizens from the Secretary of State for Health, which the post had carried since the inception of the NHS in 1948. It abolished primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) and transferred between £60 billion and £80 billion of "commissioning", or healthcare funds, from the abolished PCTs to several hundred clinical commissioning groups, partly run by the general practitioners (GPs) in England. A new executive agency of the Department of Health, Public Health England, was established under the act on 1 April 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare Gerada</span> London based general practitioner

Dame Clare Mary Louise Francis Gerada, Lady Wessely, is a London-based general practitioner who is President of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and a former chairperson of the RCGP Council (2010–2013). She has professional interests in mental health and substance misuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clive Peedell</span> English doctor and politician

Clive Peedell is an English politician and doctor specialising in oncology. He is a co-founder and former leader of the National Health Action Party. He stood as the candidate for Witney against Prime Minister David Cameron in the 2015 United Kingdom general election.

Healthcare in Worcestershire was the responsibility of three Clinical Commissioning Groups until July 2022, covering, respectively Redditch and Bromsgrove, Wyre Forest and South Worcestershire.

Marie-Louise Irvine is a Scottish general practitioner, health campaigner, and parliamentary candidate. She unsuccessfully stood for election in the 2015 general election and the 2017 general election for the National Health Action Party in the constituency of South West Surrey. She came second to Jeremy Hunt in the 2017 election; reducing his majority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kidderminster Hospital</span> Hospital in Worcestershire, England

Kidderminster Hospital is an acute general hospital in Kidderminster in Worcestershire, England. It is managed by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Wyre Forest District Council election</span>

The 2014 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Wyre Forest District Council in Worcestershire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippa Whitford</span> Scottish doctor and SNP politician

Philippa Whitford is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and a breast surgeon. Originally from Northern Ireland, she was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Ayrshire in May 2015 and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019. She previously served as the SNP Spokesperson for Scotland from December 2022 to September 2023.

References

  1. ↑ "National Health Action Party official website" . Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Former MP to lead new political party opposed to NHS changes". BBC News. bbc.co.uk. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Stamp, Gavin (22 May 2012). "Can 'Save NHS' party make an impact at the ballot box?". BBC News. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Torjesen, Ingrid (25 May 2012). "Doctors opposed to NHS reforms set up a new political party". BMJ . London: BMJ Group. 344: e3734. doi:10.1136/bmj.e3734. ISSN   1756-1833. PMID   22636788. S2CID   11227842 . Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Election 2015: NHA Party 'serious about fixing the NHS'".
  6. ↑ "IoS letters: Medics launch national campaign" . Independent.co.uk . 18 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "Doctors launch National Health Action party in London". BBC News. 15 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "Eastleigh by-election: Lib Dems hold on despite UKIP surge". BBC News. bbc.co.uk. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Results of the 2015 General Election - Election 2015". BBC News.
  10. ↑ "Wyre Forest Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  11. ↑ Iacobucci, Gareth (14 July 2016). "National Health Action Party gets interim leader after founder resigns". BMJ. 354: i3935. doi:10.1136/bmj.i3935. PMID   27417634. S2CID   6529526 . Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "AGM 2016 – Ballot Results" . Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  13. ↑ "Christmas message from the National Health Action Party". 24 December 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "Mark Haddon: 'The London theatre world is so much more alive than contemporary fiction'". Evening Standard. 12 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "In this week's magazine The power struggle". newstatesman.com. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "Whichever party spouts it, talk of the NHS budget being ring-fenced is a complete fallacy" . independent.co.uk. 23 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  17. ↑ "Labour values, the NHS and me". 27 August 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  18. ↑ "Rufus Hound in Euro elections NHS bid". BBC News. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  19. ↑ "NHA website - Policies". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "Our 2017 Manifesto - NHA Party" . Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  21. ↑ "Results of the 2017 General Election". BBC News.
  22. ↑ "Election 2015: A party with a prescription for the NHS?". BBC News. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  23. ↑ "Our Euro Election Candidates - NHA Party". nhap.org.
  24. ↑ "Just when you thought there couldn't be another election... - NHA Party". nhap.org.
  25. ↑ "Jack Monroe to stand for National Health Action Party". BBC News. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  26. ↑ "Jack Monroe abandons MP bid after 'death threats sent to her home'". London Evening Standard . 11 May 2017.
Related articles

Notes

  1. ↑ All are also members of Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern
  2. ↑ It also has 1 councillor on Kidderminster Town Council but is also a member of Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.