Nick Clegg threatens veto on NHS reforms

Nick Clegg said that the lesson he had learnt on the doorstep was that people want a louder Liberal Democrat voice in Government.

His party lost more than 700 seats in the English council elections and the majority of its MSPs in Holyrood, prompting the Lib Dem’s Scottish leader to resign.

Despite the results of the AV referendum and elections, Mr Clegg insisted the Lib Dems still “had a platform from which we can recover”.

And he made it clear that scrutinising planned reforms to the NHS would now be his top priority.

Nick Clegg insisted that the “pause” in the legislative process announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will not simply amount to a cosmetic consultation with clinical staff and patients.

Channel 4 News special report: NHS reforms and cuts

“It is absolutely not just a pause for the sake of it,” Mr Clegg told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.

“This is not a cosmetic exercise. There will be substantial, significant changes to the legislation.”As far as Government legislation is concerned, no bill is better than a bad one, and I want to get this right. Protecting the NHS, rather than undermining it, is now my number one priority.

“I am not going to ask Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to proceed with legislation on something as precious and cherished – particularly for Liberal Democrats – as the NHS unless I personally am satisfied that what these changes do is an evolutionary change in the NHS and not a disruptive revolution.”

Mr Clegg said critics of Mr Lansley’s plans were “right” to warn that changes must not be pushed through too fast and GPs should not be forced to take on commissioning roles before they are ready.

And he promised: “What you will see in this legislation are clear guarantees that you are not going to have back-door privatisation of the NHS.”

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Nick Clegg’s deputy Simon Hughes said the Lib Dems and the Conservatives needed to get back to the original deal: “The coalition agreement was a perfectly acceptable place to be.

“We then had a bill that wasn’t in the coalition agreement and we either have an agreement and we stick to it or we go all over the place and you can’t do that.”

He added: “They (the Conservatives) need us to get votes through Parliament and without our votes NHS reform or anything else can’t be delivered.”

It is clear that relations are somewhat strained between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives following the AV referendum and election results.

Tory MP Nick de Bois had some choice words for the Lib Dems on Twitter: “Every time a LD complains about their plight they detract from the real issue, the Labour opposition failed to make any impact. Get a grip!”