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UNITE head of health Rachael Maskell warned yesterday that the NHS will not survive if it faces another five years of Tory privatisation.
Ms Maskell issued the public health warning after being selected as Labour’s candidate for the safe York Central seat by local members on Sunday.
Speaking to the Morning Star, the physiotherapist vowed to lead Labour’s charge in Parliament to save the NHS, alongside shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.
Dismissing Tory claims that Labour is seeking to “weaponise” the issue, she said that Labour has a “really positive message that we will restore and repair the NHS.”
But Ms Maskell warned: “The reality is that we see the NHS being rapidly fragmented.
“I see that as an NHS clinician. I think the NHS is the number-one issue.
“It’s the thing that this Tory government has destroyed through its forced privatisation agenda and if we were to see this government return beyond the general election, the NHS will go.
“Can we really afford that? It’s our greatest asset that’s been in place since 1948 and it’s served us all so well.”
Unite’s top health official has a detailed understanding of how the service operates and helped Mr Burnham draw up Labour’s 10-year plan to merge health and social care.
She said yesterday though that her alternative to Tory privatisation is “very simple.”
“We have to have a National Health Service publicly owned, publicly funded and run in the interests of the public,” she said.
“There can be no compromise on that.”
Ms Maskell has been taking the fight to Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, leading Unite members in a series of strikes over his pay freeze for NHS staff.
And the Labour NEC member is clear her party must improve pay for front-line workers if it comes to power in May.
“If we want good public services, we have to pay the staff,” she told the Star.
“The living wage should be an absolute minimum.
“If we have to spend more on our public services, well, that’s got to be seen as a positive because we all benefit.
“I’ll be taking that challenge forward.”
