Photo-op: 11.30am, College Green, Wed 11 March

The NHS Reinstatement Bill – named in parliament the NHS Bill – will be presented by Caroline Lucas in the House of Commons on Wednesday 11 March. It will be co-sponsored by a cross party group of up to 12 MPs – including Liberal Democrat Andrew George, Labour’s Michael Meacher, SNP’s Stewart Hosie and Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams.

To mark this milestone, we will have a photo opportunity with any campaign groups who would like to come along at 11.30am on College Green, near the House of Commons. Everyone is welcome. Bring your banners. We hope that Caroline Lucas MP, Andrew George MP and some of the other supporting MPs will be able to join us.

 

What does ‘presenting’ the Bill mean?

It is a mechanism to publish the Bill formally in the House of Commons. Caroline Lucas will be asked who is introducing the Bill, read out the names of the other MPs, and will then walk three steps down the middle of the Commons, bow, take three more steps, bow again, and will then hand the Bill in at the table.  It will be read out by the clerk and will then be formally listed as one of this year’s bills.  Notionally Caroline Lucas will name a day for the Second Reading debate, although at this stage in the parliamentary cycle this will not happen before the General Election.

The full text of the Bill should be published shortly after, hopefully on Thursday 12th March. The published Bill will have a very small number of changes to the second version of the Bill we have prepared, and it should then be available on Parliament’s website.

Why is this important?

Whilst there is no parliamentary time to take the Bill any further in this parliament, this is an important milestone in showing cross-party support, and enabling other MPs to see the full text of the Bill.

Why now?

The NHS Reinstatement Bill was drafted in August 2014 by Professor Allyson Pollock and barrister Peter Roderick. There was a consultation period that finished in December 2014. Based on the consultation responses received, we published a second version of the Bill in February 2015. It is this second version, with a small number of changes, that will become ‘The NHS Bill’ as presented in parliament.

What next?

The aim of our campaign has always been to for people to ask their MP and parliamentary candidates to state their support for an NHS Reinstatement Bill to be included in the Queen’s Speech after the General Election.

You can help.

Take action – write to your MP and candidates today.