Labour has upset cancer sufferers across the country with personalised attack cards which seek to politicise an extremely emotive issue.
"Cancer sufferers across the country have condemned Labour’s scaremongering breast cancer leaflets, but still Gordon Brown and Andy Burnham refuse to apologise", said Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
The Conservatives have today launched a new website www.stopthescaremongering.com which encourages people to write to Health Secretary Andy Burnham and demand that he stops the campaign.
"This new website gives everyone who was upset by these leaflets the opportunity to write to Labour, demand an apology and call on them to stop sending them out", Lansley said.
"Labour’s postcards were beyond the pale. We want them to assure people that they will not try repeat these dirty campaign tricks again in this General Election."
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In a further example of playing politics with the NHS, Labour have also come under fire today for soliciting support from GPs using their work emails, and for using a hospital to launch their manifesto.
Francis Maude, the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, has written to Sir Gus O'Donnell seeking answers about Labour's use of the hospital:
Dear Sir Gus,
I am writing to complain about a flagrant breach of General Election guidance by the Labour Party over their cynical use of a hospital to launch their manifesto.
You will be aware that Labour today launched their manifesto at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. As part of this launch, Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman both gave keynote speeches in a new wing of the hospital, decorated with Labour Party branding, and both made political references to it, saying it ‘embodies the timeless ideal of compassion in action’.
This completely contravenes the Cabinet Office’s General Election guidance which prohibits election meetings from taking place on NHS premises:
‘Election meetings should not be permitted on NHS premises’ (General Election Guidance 2010, Cabinet Office; emphasis their own)
This breach of the rules is completely unacceptable and I ask you to investigate how this was allowed to happen. In particular, I would be grateful if you could provide answers to the following questions:
What communications took place between the Labour Party and the NHS Trust regarding the use of the hospital?
Was the Department of Health aware that the hospital was to be used in this way?
What involvement did Sir Albert Bore, the Chairman of the NHS Trust and leader of the Labour group in Birmingham, play in organising this event?
Were any services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital disrupted by the presence of hundreds of party activists, journalists and politicians at the Labour Party’s event?
Labour claim that this guidance has not been breached as the new wing is a PFI project, not an opened hospital and is therefore owned by private firm. However, Gordon Brown described it as a ‘new acute NHS hospital that will be open within weeks’ in his speech. He is therefore clearly using the fact that it is an NHS hospital for electoral gain, contrary to your guidance. Considering the imminence of the General Election, I would also be grateful if you could deal with this request as quickly as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Francis Maude MP