By Mark Ladbrooke

A couple of Labour’s most influential NEC members, Luke Akehurst, and Gurinder Singh Josan CBE, are leading the fight to rid the SHA of its “Momentum-dominated national committee” and replace it. “Moderates” we are assured, in a Labour First briefing, are keen to field candidates.

The SHA, one of Labour’s oldest and biggest affiliated socialist societies, which helped advise on the formation of the NHS in 1948, has been the centre of bitter political struggle over the past few years. This is a reflection of the fight to defend the NHS. Huge corporate interests would capture and control its higher structures, eviscerate, and repackage the NHS as a mere brand covering a mess of parasitic private services feeding from the public purse, dispensing reduced public services but healthy shareholder profit.

These corporations have bought some politicians and whole political parties in a process of corporate capture of the very structures of the state. Politicians clinging to the coat-tails of the corporations promote their clients’ staff to top positions in administration. In South Africa such behaviour results in a prison sentence. Here it might result in a seat in the Lords. 

The solution to the current appalling health crisis is not more involvement of health care companies which bring few, if any, staff. The catastrophic privatisation and asset-stripping of social care will, however, probably force even socialists to pay way above the odds for additional capacity. Without political action, this fate awaits the NHS.

The current leadership of the SHA struggles to see how a ‘moderate’ response to this situation is adequate. We remain absolutely committed to the founding principles of the NHS.

The SHA is very proud to work with a group of principled MPs and councillors in Labour in the fight to defend the NHS. To win we need to build the broadest alliance across the labour movement and among NHS campaign groups. We want you to join the SHA.

Together we will win.

Please join the picket lines and protests of working people and back the OurSHA team in coming elections.

“Socialists for a publicly owned and provided NHS. Reinstate the NHS!”

Mark Ladbrooke is outgoing Chair of the SHA.

Main image: NHS demonstration, London, January 18th