WE PAY FOR NHS FUNDING

IT’S good to see Brian Livesey back on your pages after a time (‘Was the NHS Labour gift?’, Letters March 30).

I would like to add a few comments though.

It may be true that the idea for a National Health service may have come from a few sources but the point is that it was actually formed by a Labour administration and despite being voted against by Churchill and the Tories who have continued to hold a grudge ever since.

It is also true that the dental and spectacles free issue was withdrawn because of the huge initial response.

This was prudent and the Tories no doubt agreed with that.

The difference now to then is that then the Conservative reluctance to properly fund it was about economics. Now it is about driving it into almost poverty because a high number of the party have ties or investment in private medicine, using excuses about ageing populations which don’t seem to be affecting other countries’ health services or pension ages like ours.

But then their economies have much higher growth than ours, due to Tory incompetence.

Just a final point on the matter. The inference about the National Health being a gift for us is not true. It is not a gift. We pay for it through taxes. So it is a right that it is properly funded. Where else are you forced to pay for something that is letting people down? David Entwistle via email