Michael McCarthy (Labour)

The Government made a promise before the general election that it would extend the medical card scheme to an extra 200,000 people. That was an out and out lie. It has not done this and had no intention of doing so. It is frightening that in this day and age people who are ill will be treated in our hospitals, if they are lucky enough, based on the amount of money they have in their wallets, not on how sick they are. That is the health service being characterised by arch-conservative right-wing politics in this country since 1997. Never has it been as bad as this. Occasionally we get quasi-acknowledgements of how bad it is. However, we now have to listen to the rubbish in this House this evening where we are told by the minority partner in the Government that it is doing a wonderful job. It is an absolute affront to democracy that anybody should take that limited and narrow-minded view.

There is no point in pumping money into a health service if we do not get value for money. I recognise that between 1997 and 2002 the Government increased health expenditure.