My dream for the future of our NHS

HANGING in Jon Ashworth’s Westminster office is the shirt he wore running this year’s London Marathon. After vowing never to run the gruelling 26-miler again after last year, he successfully completed the course this April in 4hrs 42mins. “I’ve just had an email asking if I want to take part for a third time,” he says, laughing. “I’m not sure I can face another one.”

The Shadow Health Secretary is prepared for a bigger challenge – the race to save the NHS.

“The NHS is at risk of collapse because we’ve got a Tory government which is out of touch with people on the ground,” he warns. “[Aneurin] Bevan, who created the NHS, said he was creating it because in place of fear, he wanted to provide hope.

“I think fear is returning again. Fear that if you’re a patient, your local GP practice will close. Fear that because of cuts to district nursing, you won’t get the support your family needs.

“And, of course, the fear that the elderly won’t get the community care they need because of devastating, swingeing cuts to social care budgets.”

For Mr Ashworth, who grew up an only child in Bury, Greater Manchester, and was politically active in the Labour party from the age of 15, it’s personal.

“People have paid their taxes all their life, they’ve done the right thing, they’ve gone to work, they’ve contributed to society,” he says. “And now many are being betrayed.”

The 39-year-old spoke passionately on the eve of the Labour conference about the party’s NHS plan.

The Tories have promised to give the NHS a 3.4% rise over five years with £20billion more by 2024. He dismisses this as “insufficient” to save the service. He says Labour would put in 5%. Childhood memories of

growing up with an alcoholic father have also prompted Mr Ashworth to tackle excessive drinking.

He recalls seeing his father falling over drunkenly at the school gates and returning home to find the fridge full of cheap booze, but no food.

“It’s not just because my dad was an alcoholic, but because the figures are so alarming. We’ve got over 600,000 people dependent on alcohol who need specialist intervention but the number getting treatment is the lowest for years.

“We know that a child who grows up with an alcoholic parent is more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs or suffer mental health issues.”

But it’s not just health issues that drive Mr Ashworth. He says: “We have a responsibility to get into government. Millions of people desperately need a Labour government. Zero hours contracts, low pay, schools begging parents to send them £10 for pens and pencils. Four million kids in poverty. These are the issues we need to focus on.

“My mum was a barmaid, my dad worked in a casino – I know that poverty affects people’s life chances. “Someone’s length of life is affected if they grow up in poverty. That offends me as a socialist and that’s what I’m in politics for – to do something about it.”