Hunt, Lewisham Hospital and PFI

I stand corrected on Hunt’s illegal actions in the past.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) debacle that got neighbouring health trusts into such debt was a result of Labour’s profligacy. The seeds of debt-ridden chaos were sown, for the most part, between '97 and 2010.

There isn’t endless money to fund the NHS and sometimes difficult trade-offs have to be made, even if they appear malign to local people.

The worst thing politicians can do is to use debt at sky-high interest rates and carry on spending. That’s just irresponsible, and leads to worse problems further down the line.

In the case of South East London Trust, which ran in to such difficulties, the PFI contract was issued under John Major’s government.

None of this excuses Hunt’s illegal actions which cost taxpayers plenty of money in court costs alone, and impacted a number of hospitals. I don’t understand why he wasn’t fired.

Just to be clear:

That’s clear. What is even clearer is that Hunt attempted to act illegally when he tried to close Lewisham Hospital A&E (with the support of the London Mayor, Boris Johnson).