What have the Conservatives said on health so far? Their manifesto makes big promises – but is vague on detail. NHS England’s Five Year Forward View called for £8 billion more annually by 2020 (alongside £22 billion efficiency savings) to maintain NHS standards. Liberal Democrats were the first to sign up to this – and […]
Lib Dem Voice
LibLink: Norman Lamb on a mission
View image | gettyimages.com Over on Huffington Post, Norman Lamb has written about his campaign to end discrimination against mental health. The Liberal Democrats are on a mission to end the discrimination against mental health. From Paul Burstow who changed the law to give mental health equality with physical health to my work ensuring […]
Opinion: First term councillor diary – mental health, the Council and me
In 1998 I lived 500 yards from Mick Philpott who was later convicted of killing 6 of his children. I’d met him on one occasion and was told even then he was an odd individual. Never did I expect to see him on the telly, but, having lived in that area, hearing what he had […]
Nick Clegg says: Employers must be equally supportive of workers with mental and physical health problems
I wrote the other day of my annoyance at the dreadfully stigmatising headlines about mental health in the wake of the Germanwings plane crash. It’s good to see that Nick Clegg has given quite a detailed interview reported on the Huffington Post while on the battle bus about this issue in which he said that […]
P-37: What are the Liberal Democrats talking about today? Mental Health and the manifesto for the mind
We’ll be having daily deeper and more detailed look at the party’s main theme. Today it’s mental health. Nick Clegg and Norman Lamb this morning said that Liberal Democrats (or should that be Democats?) would invest £3.5 billion in mental health over the next Parliament. Part of our record in Government includes securing £150 million […]
38 Degrees get it badly wrong on Lib Dem funding for NHS – but don’t do nearly enough to put it right
Everyone makes mistakes. That’s a fact of life. However, when you do, you need to properly acknowledge it and make amends. One of the key Liberal Democrat priorities for this election is that we would fund the £8 billion that the NHS in England needs. In fact, we’re spending more than that on health because […]
Today’s headlines show just how much work is still to do on mental health stigma
View image | gettyimages.com All of us have been moved by the Germanwings plane crash, feeling for those who have lost loved ones or colleagues. The circumstances of the crash, caused by what seems to be a deliberate act by the co-pilot, has provoked much comment in the press, much of it deeply irresponsible. Headlines […]
Opinion: Plain Packaging: Will Tobacco Be the End or Just the Beginning?
While I think I was pleased to see the vote by MPs earlier this month, introducing plain packaging for tobacco products, it did also set off faint alarm bells – with me at least. There is something rather drastic about passing a law that requires legally produced and distributed goods to be wrapped in plain […]
Clegg launches Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation
I think it’s fair to say that Nick Clegg may not exactly rock the tracksuit look, but he did do something very valuable today. In one of his last engagements as Deputy Prime Minister before the election campaign, he launched the Charter for Mental Health in Sport and Recreation aimed at kicking the mental health […]
Annette Brooke MP writes…Choice at the end of life is vital – free social care can make that happen
There are no dress rehearsals when it comes to where we are and who we are with when we die – so it’s crucial that people have as much choice and control over the situation as possible. This is important not only to the person who is at the end of their life, but also […]