PM quashes Lansley speculation (From The Argus)

PM quashes Lansley speculation

12:06am Sunday 12th February 2012 in National News © Press Association 2011

David Cameron has sought to quash speculation over the survival of health secretary Andrew Lansley and his controversial NHS shake-up.

The Prime Minister insisted he was "at one" with Mr Lansley and the legislation going through parliament.

He also attacked Labour for "opportunism" on the issue - claiming the proposals were an "evolution" from changes introduced by the previous government.

The intervention comes amid growing pressure for the Health and Social Care Bill to be scrapped. Several Conservative Cabinet ministers are said to have privately condemned Mr Lansley's handling of the package, with one suggesting the problems were now on the scale of the Poll Tax in the 1980s.

A Downing Street source was also quoted last week saying that the health secretary should be "taken out and shot".

However, writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Cameron stressed that there was no alternative to reform.

The Prime Minister - whose disabled son Ivan died in 2009 - said: "As a parent, night after night, I've known what it is to have the NHS by your side. I've seen the dedication - the reassurance that if the worst happens, the NHS will be there for your family.

"That's why I so strongly support the founding principle of the NHS: health care for all, free at the point of use, unrelated to the ability to pay."

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes said he believed Mr Lansley should be shifted from his health role.

Although stressing it was a decision for the Prime Minister, he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "My political judgment is that in the second half of the parliament it would be better to move on."