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Too little, too late

The Government is probably lucky that this latest ruling ordering the release of the risk register has come while its health reforms are at such a late stage in the legislative process.

The attention given to the issue has all but ensured that no matter what it really says, it will be Very Big News: and considering the efforts it’s going to keep this document secret, you’ve got to imagine there’s some dynamite in there. It’s not just civil service precedent being protected.

But there’s little time left for it to have much impact. Some of the royal colleges are starting to sound like they know its passage its inevitable, and they’d rather have some influence on its implementation than be left out in the cold. The Lib Dem activists may have their moment in the sun, and cause Nick Clegg further headaches, but more amendments seem out of the question now the party’s peers – including Shirley Williams, vitally – have accepted the amended Bill.

If the Government was going to drop this Bill, it would have done a long time ago. Unfortunately, some decent ideas in principle have been completely buried by terrible messaging, bad politics, and genuine concerns being ignored. The Government let the debate become one of privatising the NHS versus keeping it public, despite that not being the Bill’s intention. But by being so desperate to introduce more competition into the health service, Andrew Lansley has lost both medical and public opinion on this issue, and turned the NHS into a political millstone for both his party and the Lib Dems.

The Bill will become the cause of all NHS failures but be credited with none of its successes. It’s hard not to think the legislation should have been dropped and Lansley should have started from scratch about this time last year. As it is, the next few years will be just as difficult as the last few months have been – if he stays in his job.

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