The Liberal Democrats claimed a major victory today over their Conservative Party coalition partners by persuading them to reduce the use of US style punctuation in the NHS bill.
In a major speech on the subject, the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg said:
We have gone through the bill with a fine tooth comb and I have told the Prime Minister there are many parts of the bill which are unacceptable to us. Particularly the Tories’ insistence on repeatedly using a comma before the word ‘and’. This is completely unsatisfactory to most people in the UK and by insisting on these important changes to the bill, the Liberal Democrats have shown that we are able to stand up for what’s right.
In an attempt to avoid a damaging backlash at the Lib Dem spring conference in Gateshead next week, the deputy prime minister joined forces with Lady Williams of Crosby and released a joint letter to Liberal Democrat activists, reassuring them they would do everything to protect the NHS by introducing amendments to rule out beyond any doubt the introduction of US-style punctuation to the bill:
We have discovered a few instances buried deep inside the legislation where cleft sentences were unacceptably replaced with a subordinate clause and a couple of cases where infinitives were actually split. But we, as Liberal Democrats, have stood by our principles and insisted that unless proper changes are made to ensure commas are not put before conjunctions, we will not be able to support this bill in its present form.
Labour, who have managed to get more than 150 peers out on to the red leather benches before over the unacceptable punctuation, claimed it was “a grammatical mess of Andrew Lansley‘s own making”.
The shadow health spokesman, Andy Burnham, said:
The Tories are trying to introduce US style punctuation into the NHS bill by the back door. After 12 months of debate, it is an indictment that the government still does not know what it thinks on a question as basic as how to use commas in its NHS reforms.
In response to the Liberal Democrats’ concerns, the Tories have said they are willing to make a few amendments to the punctuation in the bill to provide more clarity – just so long as it didn’t involve making any actual changes to the parts which guarantee them huge kickbacks from private healthcare companies.
.
Related articles by Tom Pride:
Cameron to voters – here’s two pointers why I’m going ahead with NHS privatisation anyway ….
RIP NHS 1948 – 2012
Cameron Organises Summit With Himself On NHS
Royal College of GPs calls for government to scrap Andrew Lansley
Lansley – Increasing Number of Private Patients in the NHS Will Decrease Number of Private Patients in the NHS
Andrew Lansley To Undergo Painful ‘U-Turn’ Operation
Hard-Up Cherie Blair Forced To Take Job In Supermarket
Andrew Lansley’s Face To Help Reduce Hospital Waiting Lists
NHS Reforms – Doctors No Longer To Diagnose and Treat Sickness
Private NHS Hospital Cuts All Corners To Make Profit And Calls Itself ‘Circle’
Cameron – NHS Privatisation Doesn’t Mean NHS To Be Privatised
Government To Allow Patients To Run Hospitals
Government Extends ‘Nudging’ Policy To Winking and Nodding
Andrew Lansley: Dying can be good for us
.
Please feel free to comment – you don’t need to register and I’m extremely minimal with the moderating – so fire away.
.
By the way, if you click on any of these buttons below, you’ll be doing me a huge favour by sharing this article with other people. Thanks:
Pingback: Andrew Lansley ‘complex, incoherent and not fit for purpose’, say doctors « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Andreus Lansleylococcus – the deadly threat lurking in our hospitals « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Have you heard the one about Andrew Lansley? « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems Vote To Support Scottish Independence By Privatising NHS in England « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems back euthanasia as party votes to destroy NHS and itself « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Virgin Rail Set To Improve Children’s Health Services With Overcrowding & Exorbitant Prices « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lords Vote To Put Fingers In Ears And Go LaLaLa Over NHS Bill « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Coalition Ministers Bang and Stuff NHS Over Cabinet Table « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Government – clocks to go back 64 years this Sunday « Pride's Purge
Pingback: US bubblewrap maker set to take over Broadmoor Hospital « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems Hail ‘Sensational Victory’ In Bradford West By-Election « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Virgin Trains Set To Improve Surrey Health Services With Standing Room Only & Exorbitant Prices « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems – a few candidates short of a full deck « Pride's Purge
Pingback: LibDem Concerns as Cameron Promises to Take Coalition Pledges as Seriously as They Do. « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Nick Clegg risks Tory anger by pressing on with incompetence « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Archaeologists accuse government of allowing private companies to ‘plunder’ NHS shipwreck « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Despite his lack of relevance, Nick Clegg is likely to have attended sensitive meetings, No 10 admits « Pride's Purge
Pingback: ‘Easier Sacking’ Plans Buried by Coalition Over Worries Nick Clegg Could Lose His Job « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Liverpool FC owners cool interest in Nick Clegg « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems Show Dissatisfaction With Hunt By Allowing Him To Get Off Scot-Free « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Nick Clegg Unveils Plans To Do Something Nice To Make People Notice Him « Pride's Purge
Pingback: ASK NICK! Advice From Our Resident Agony Aunt – Nick Clegg « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Sheffield man left with nothing after falling victim to Westminster conmen « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems – Labour were the first to introduce being shit so we’re going to be shit too « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Richard Branson offers free NHS operation with every ticket in bid to keep rail franchise « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Nick Clegg Demands Britain’s Wealthiest Tories Pay More Notice Of Him « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems must stand behind Nick Clegg and use him as a human shitwall urges Paddy Ashdown « Pride's Purge
Pingback: How many degrees of separation between the EDL and the Tory Party? « Pride's Purge
Pingback: How many degrees of separation between the EDL and the Tory Party? | Think Left
Pingback: Cable Backs Clegg To Continue As Inept Leader « Pride's Purge
Pingback: David Laws sentenced to 2 years in government for fiddling expenses « Pride's Purge
Pingback: War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Fewer Affordable Homes is More Affordable Homes. « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Doctors – many LibDems suffering from Electile Dysfunction & fear of impotence « Pride's Purge
Pingback: One little word so powerful it lost the Tories the last election (and probably the next) « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lord Ashdown to Lib Dems – Prepare for well-hung government! « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Nick Clegg to Lib Dems – “Prepare for Oppositionment!” « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Why did the LibDems choose a known racist, violent homophobe as their candidate? « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Coalition split after Tory minister says UK ‘peppered’ with too many wind-powered Lib Dem MPs « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Benefit Cuts Likely To Lead To Higher Unemployment of LibDem MPs says Sarah Teather « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems Claim Victory Over Tories in Green Tea and Jammy-Dodger Policy Battle « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Minimum price plan to end cheap sales of Lib Dem MPs « Pride's Purge
Pingback: UKIP now double Liberal Democrat support in latest opinion poll « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Comet Store Failure – Vince Cable pledges to clamp down on people not buying enough tellies « Pride's Purge
Pingback: More Wet Downpours of Triviality Forecast from Nick Clegg to End 2012 « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Coalition Cabinet Tensions Rise After Dispute Over Quality Street Chocolate Toffee Fingers « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Charade-gate scandal – coalition conflict escalates as Clegg accuses Cameron of cheating at charades « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Jeremy Hunt threatens to sack himself after saying failing NHS bosses will have to go « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Discounting boosts seasonal Lib Dem sell-out with massive savings on its scruples, pledges and core beliefs « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Ronseal complains to ASA about being compared to toxic, dangerous coalition « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Ronseal complains to ASA after being compared to toxic, dangerous coalition « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Tory shock after Lib Dems carry out a pledge (to delay boundary review) « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems pledge to paint Big Ben orange. Or red. Or blue. Or purple. « Pride's Purge
Pingback: All Lib Dem MPs in England and Wales to be microchipped by 2015 « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Rafa Benitez denies being so desperate for points he offered to take Chris Huhne’s « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems choose candidate to stand against themselves in Eastleigh by-election « Pride's Purge
Pingback: FSA – tests reveal Nick Clegg may contain up to 100% chicken « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Lib Dems have a cunning plan to win Eastleigh. They’ve abandoned Nick Clegg. « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Revealed! Nick Clegg’s secret love going back to his student days « Pride's Purge
Pingback: Iain Duncan Smith test drives new driverless robot government department at DWP | Pride's Purge
Pingback: According to Lib Dems: closing hospitals is ‘giving local people more say’! | Pride's Purge