52% think the NHS bill should be dropped

A report from the Guardian this morning has shown the true extent of opposition against the NHS bill. Tom Clark reports that:

“Labour is one point ahead, on 37%, with Ed Miliband’s party up from 35% last month. The Liberal Democrats slip back two to stand at 14%, and the combined total of the smaller parties has climbed by four points, to 13%.

An outright majority of respondents, 52%, say that the bill – which would overhaul NHS management, increase competition and give family doctors more financial responsibility – should be dropped. That is against 33% who believe it is better to stick with the plans at this stage.

Only the very youngest respondents aged 18 to 24, the least likely to vote, favour sticking with the plans, by 46% to 39%. Opposition hardens with age, and is at its most marked among the over-65s – who favour dropping the bill by a 56% to 29% margin. A third of Conservatives(31%) and a significant majority of Lib Dem voters (57%) also want the proposed law to be ditched.”

The government has over a month to withstand this tirade, and they’re looking increasingly marginalised. The Lib Dems need to put some serious pressure on them by speaking out in public, as Simon Hughes has done. What is more their peers in the House of Lords should scrutinise this bill all the more finely because of this opposition. This could serve to draw the process out for as long as possible.