Only independence can keep Scotland’s NHS safe from privatisation – Clare Haughey MSP
by Article Summary
Scotland’s NHS was built on fairness, compassion and equality but Westminster decisions constantly put it at risk. Both Tory and Labour UK governments take money from private healthcare interests, push outsourcing, and sign trade deals that open the door to privatisation.
Labour’s senior figures, including Wes Streeting, have taken hundreds of thousands from private healthcare donors while openly promising to welcome their investment. That influence is creeping into Scottish Labour too.
As long as Westminster holds the power, Scotland’s NHS will never be fully safe, not from the Tories, not from Labour. Independence is the only way to guarantee it stays public, free at the point of need, and protected for future generations.
Scotland’s NHS is one of our proudest national achievements.
Founded on the principle that healthcare should be provided based on need, not profit, it stands as a testament to the values we hold dear – fairness, compassion, and equality.
But today those are values we constantly have to defend, often from choices being made at Westminster.
So long as Scotland remains under Westminster control, our health service will never be fully safe from the push towards privatisation.
As a registered mental health nurse for more than 36 years, who still works in our NHS, and as convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I have seen first hand the challenges our NHS faces, from recovering after the pandemic to tackling waiting times and supporting our dedicated workforce.
Yet too often, our ability to respond to these challenges is hindered by decisions taken by a UK government, whether Tory or Labour, that answers to private donors before it answers to the people of Scotland.
Westminster continues to hold the purse strings.
It controls trade deals that could open the door to further private sector encroachment.
And it is Westminster that dragged us out of the European Union against our will, with disastrous consequences for medical research, access to vital medicines, and staffing shortages.
Under a Labour UK Government, we are witnessing the continuation of creeping privatisation.
In England, outsourcing to private healthcare firms has reached record levels, and alarmingly, that same influence is now creeping into Scottish Labour itself.
Figures revealed that Scottish Labour MPs have received almost £200,000 in donations from organisations or individuals linked to private healthcare companies.
Half of all Scottish Labour MPs, including Ian Murray and Minister Kirsty McNeill, have benefitted from these donations.
The largest single donor?
Labour Together Ltd, a think tank formerly run by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, and funded by individuals with direct interests in private healthcare investment across the UK and beyond.
When Labour’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting says he wants to “hold the door wide open” to private investment in the NHS, and has himself taken over £220,000 from healthcare linked donors, it’s not hard to see whose interests are being prioritised.
No-one should be under any illusions, this isn’t about fringe influence. This is about the heart of Labour policy, being shaped by those with a financial stake in a privatised healthcare system.
And here’s the crucial question: if a Labour Party led from London so deeply tied to private healthcare were ever in government in Scotland, what would they do to our NHS?
If they are prepared to open England’s health service to the market, and already take money from those who profit from it, what guarantee could the people of Scotland ever have that our NHS would remain truly public?
The SNP will always oppose any attempts at the privatisation of Scotland’s NHS.
But as long as Westminster has the power to legislate over key areas, including trade agreements, regulatory frameworks, and funding models, Scotland’s NHS is never fully safe, not from the Tories, and not from Labour.
The truth is stark.
Our NHS is only as safe as the government that controls the levers of power.
And at Westminster, the trajectory is clear, toward a system where profit edges out public service.
That’s why independence matters.
It’s about having the power to protect what we value most, and to make decisions in line with Scotland’s priorities, not Westminster’s.
With independence, we can guarantee that Scotland’s NHS remains publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need.
We can safeguard it not just for today but for generations to come.