NHS

Since then, the Conservatives have consistently fought to protect the values the NHS stands for and have campaigned to defend the NHS from Labour’s cuts and reorganisations.

We are committed to protecting health spending in real terms as we will not make people’s wellbeing pay for Labour’s debt crisis.

However, the NHS does need to change. Our vision of the NHS will be based on decentralisation, accountability and transparency.

Instead of bureaucratic accountability there will be democratic accountability. We will decentralise power so that patients have a real choice. If patients don’t like what they are offered, they will be able to find something better.

This will drive up standards by allowing people to choose the best providers by encouraging hospitals to compete for patients.

Making doctors and nurses accountable to patients, not to endless layers of bureaucracy, will also save billions that are currently spent on needless bureaucratic checks – meaning we can spend more on the frontline services that make a real difference.

We are the party of the NHS today because we not only back the values of the NHS, we back its funding and we have a vision for its future.

James Wharton, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Stockton South.