Devaluing opposition
THERE’S been much excitement and banter over on Twitter and elsewhere about the government’s plans to repace NHS Direct in England with a new 111-service.
“Cuts!” cry Labour supporters. “But you would have done it anyway!” comes the retort from government supporters. “Yeah, but-…” is the response from Labour.
Ah.
Now, I joined in the Tweet debate myself, but was careful not to jump on what was, from the outset, a rather precarious-looking bandwagon. Instead I ventured that this reorganisation may well end up costing more than what might be saved from the repacement of NHS Direct (a risk that would have been incurred whichever administration was leading the reform) and secondly, that moving ahead without any consultation and before the pilot for the new 111 service had even been completed and evaluated was questionable to say the least.
Those are legitimate and valid concerns. As for the actual proposal to replace NHS Direct, all the evidence suggests that Labour would have done exactly the same thing.
In December, the Telegraph reported that a new 111 service would eventually…
replace NHS Direct which currently gives health and medical advice through call handlers and nurses.
I’m not aware that this was contradicted by any Labour spokesperson at the time.
Look, this government is a shambles. There are plenty of opportunities to attack them on legitimate grounds. So we must be careful that we don’t devalue our attacks by crying “Wolf” every time they make an announcement. Because if we keep doing that we will devalue not only our attacks, but our party.