A Farewell to Politics? We’ll be lucky
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 17 December 2019 07:35
- Written by News Editor
- Hits: 1554
Unless you spent the last week on Mars, you will know that the Conservatives won General Election with large enough majority to implement Brexit and other reforms. All pre-election Health Ministers were returned, so no immediate changes at the NHS or in dentistry. But Dr Sarah Wollaston who defected from the Conservatives was defeated, so a new chair will be needed for the Health Select Committee.
MPs old and new return to Westminster to find out where to hang their swords and be sworn in. There will be (another) State Opening of Parliament on Thursday December 19, but with less pomp we are told.
All pre-election Health Ministers were returned. The only reshuffle of Ministers were those necessary to replace gaps left by those defeated at the election or who had resigned. Although Nicky Morgan retains her position as Culture Secretary, having been given a peerage to enable her to do so. So, the letter from BDA/ADG about ortho commissioning should receive some attention from Matt Hancock, now he is back at his desk at the Department of Health. A more substantial reshuffle after Brexit in February has been forecast.
The Conservative manifesto made no specific pledges on NHS dentistry (unlike Labour that promised to abolish Band 1 – check-up – charges) but said it would: “Give the NHS its biggest ever cash boost, with 20 hospital upgrades and 40 new hospitals, while delivering 50,000 more nurses and 6,000 more doctors and creating an extra 50 million general practice appointments a year.”
Dr Sarah Wollaston stood as a LibDem in her Totnes constituency and was defeated, so a new chair will be needed for the Health Select Committee. Committee chairs are voted on by all MPs, but they are allocated according to the number of seats held by each party.
The Health Committee has always been chaired by the Government party so it will be a Conservative in the chair. The make-up of the committee will dictate whether they continue with the inquiry into NHS dental services, to which many gave evidence but which was lost when Parliament was dissolved.
The new Father of the House (longest serving member) is Sir Peter Bottomley, whose wife, Virginia, was Health Secretary back in 1992 when the Government cut dental fees by 7%.
Finally, Sir Paul Beresford remains our only MP in the House of Commons, with Lord Colwyn and Baroness Gardner of Parkes in the Lords.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report