Right For Fife NHS Fife Public Consultation

June 2001
At a public meeting organised by Fife Health Board, the Glenrothes SSP were invited to submit a response to the Right For Fife document which the Health Board had distributed to every home in Fife.

The gist of our response is that successive British governments have failed to tax big business at a level which will allow sufficient funds for a comprehensive NHS service. Corporation Tax is at 34% under New Labour. Under Thatcher, Corporation Tax was 52% from 1979-1988.

We're not blaming NHS Fife for this, but we are saying that is one of the bases for our objection to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) which allows profitable companies the opportunity to make even more money by investing in the NHS. PPP works like a mortgage in that large sums of money are paid back over decades but at higher interest rates than anyone would pay a mortgage!

In addition to this, high tech equipment purchased now under a PPP agreement is obsolete long before the debt is paid off.

Not only are these huge companies getting the lowest tax levels in Europe, they're having their profits boosted further at PUBLIC expense.

This is MADNESS!