Last week, I was lucky enough to be drawn to ask a question during Prime Minister’s Question Time. This came at the perfect time as later that day I was presenting a petition on behalf of more than 40,000 constituents who are against the disastrous cuts to South Tyneside Hospital.
I took this opportunity to remind the Prime Minister of all the things he said about out NHS, including “Our greatest national asset” “Best of this country” “Record increase in funding” “Saved my life—no question” “My No.1 priority”. Yet, during a worldwide pandemic our award-winning South Tyneside Hospital is being stripped of acute services causing a disaster for the people of South Tyneside and causing undue pressure on our neighbouring Sunderland A&E.
The last year and a half has shown that our NHS is needed more than ever however, in the hands of the Tories it’s very future is uncertain. The Government must step in and show they are serious about protecting the NHS, listen to our concerns and stop more cuts to South Tyneside Hospital and return the services we have already lost.
Crucially, in my speech I asked the Prime Minister if he would match his rhetoric with some action by blocking cuts to our hospital but unsurprisingly, he failed to provide us with any support or reassurance. This shows us all the Prime Minister does not care about the NHS which saved his life.
South Tyneside and Sunderland campaigners have worked incredibly hard to raise awareness of the dismantling of our local hospital services, even coming down to Westminster to hand me the 44,000 strong petition. However, on that very same day campaigners were stood outside of Parliament the Government once again chose to stand against us.
You can read my PMQ speech by clicking here and the petition speech here.