As I said last week, Nick Clegg is in a tricky position when it comes to this Health Bill. Thanks to the concessions that he secured and welcomed last year, he can’t now just slander it outright. But thanks to the concerns of his own party, he will also be reluctant to endorse it in full. The result is the sort of ambiguous performance that the Deputy Prime Minister put in on ITV’s Daybreak show this morning. He did get stuck into Labour for their ‘outrageous’ misrepresentation of the reforms. But when it came to actually supporting the Bill, it seemed to me that he used generalisations — such as, ‘I am behind reforming the NHS to improve care for patients’ — that could permit a slight change of heart about the specifics in future.
The pressure for Clegg to have that change of heart will certainly increase as next month’s Lib Dem spring conference approaches. We learn today that a group of Lib Dem activists has submitted an emergency motion calling for, as the Guardian reports, ‘the entire section of the bill extending competition in the health service to be scrapped — as a minimum’. And while this may not necessarily be debated and voted upon at the conference, it has already made a mark of sorts. Throw in the agitation of some Lib Dem MPs and peers, and the sentiment facing of Clegg is clear.
And there might be another factor bearing down on Clegg: his own approval ratings. According to today’s Times (£), ‘The fall in support for Nick Clegg among Lib Dem voters has accelerated over the past five months,’ such that, ‘if the trend continues at the same rate, it could make it hard for him to take the party into the next election.’ After tuition fees, AV and Europe, the Deputy Prime Minister will be reluctant to be seen to buckle on health. But the Tory leadership will also be reluctant for him use the Bill, once again, as a political debating point; particularly given how important the NHS is in their own plans. No wonder the Lib Dem leadership are placing so much stock in the £10,000 personal allowance in the meantime.
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