Privatize by Stealth.
By After seven years of living in the UK, two institutions that I admire (which never fails to invite derision from some quarters in Britain) are the BBC and the NHS. The former is funded by one of the most regressive taxes on the planet, one that I happily pay every December. Last August, at the height of the health care “reform” debate in the United States, I wrote at some length about my personal experiences with the NHS.
Fortunately, with the Tory erm, so-called “coalition” government, privatization is once again all the rage, so neither are likely to emerge from the current Government unscathed. The BBC is under a muted threat, with Tory plans to reduce the annual license fee. Their incentive for doing so is unclear: the license fee tax is solely used for the BBC, so their incentive is either demonstrating their tax cutting prowess in a manner that doesn’t affect the current fiscal position, or a spiteful assault on the institution.
The NHS is under a more direct threat. The best MSM analysis I’ve read about this comes from the NYT, which is perhaps understandable given the distance. Devolving budgetary authority and responsibility to GPs is risky, bonkers, and is unlikely to generate the savings promised. What is clear to me is that this is a Tory wet dream: it’s a stealth privatization scheme, one utterly inconsistent with the promises of the coalition Government. But hey, it worked for the trains.
Considering the weight and direction of these policies, one has to wonder what the hell the Liberal Democrats are doing in this coalition (besides selling out)? Lib Dem supporters are themselves befuddled, with deserters breaking 2:1 to Labour. Lib Dem support is down to 16%, and only 41% of the electorate support the coalition government.
It would be easy to quip that it’s little wonder the Tories want to adopt a five-year fixed term Parliament, but in reality it is now in the interests of the Tories for the government to fall.
