It says, "... we believe MPs and peers have played the political survival of the coalition above professional opinion, patient safety and the will of the country. The Liberal Democrat leadership ignored the democratic view of its spring conference, continuing to support a Bill that betrays the proud heritage of Beveridge's vision of the welfare state. It has colluded with its Conservative coalition partners and utilised all the political dark arts of obfuscation, deceipt and media manipulation to confuse and conceal the Bill's underlying objectives in order to force it through. Liberal peers have even voted against their own amendments.
"Shocked by the failure of the democratic process and the role played by the Liberal Democrats in the passage of this Bill, we have formed a coalition of healthcare professionals to take on the coalition MPs at the next General Election, on the non-party, independent ticket of defending the NHS and acting in the wider public interest."
Among others, the letter is signed by Dr Clive Peedell and Dr Jacky Davis, Co-Chairs of the NHS Consultants Association, Professor John Ashton, John Moors University and Professor Wendy Savage, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Middlesex University.
The coalition aims to put up against 50 of the current Lib Dem-marginals or high-profile seats. The Indie is backing the campaign and says that the Bill should have been ditched a year ago when it was falling apart in order to make some cosmetic tweaks.
So, if the Lib Dems really do want to continue to claim Beveridge as one of their own, they need to get in step with a few founding principles.
No doubt the local Lib Dem apparatchiks will continue to defend the Bill and bleat about the nasty doctors. Let them carry on in their folly and face a well deserved kicking in the election.
Safe in their hands? Apparently nobody but them and a few money-grubbing GPs thinks so.
