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MP Iain Wright resigns
HARTLEPOOL MP Iain Wright has sensationally resigned from the Labour Government.
Mr Wright stepped down as Parliamentary Private Secretary for Health and told the Mail he resigned because of the Government's decision to review services at the University Hospital of Hartlepool.
But Mr Wright also said internal fighting over the future of prime minister Tony Blair had played a part in his shock resignation.
He told the Mail: "I have been thinking about it since Monday and I have resigned over the local issue of the hospital. I talked to the local Labour Party at a meeting of the executive committee last night and they agreed with my decision.
Mr Wright became the eighth in a series of parliamentary private secretaries who have quit their posts and said he shared their demands for Tony Blair to set a resignation date.
"I spoke to the Prime Minister yesterday and he has got a lot of sympathy for me," said Mr Wright. "All the people who have resigned are my friends and they are all concerned about the ability of a Labour Government to deliver what it should.
"I am in government to make sure social justice is implemented on the ground. While the uncertainty over the leadership goes on, we are not achieving those objectives.
"This is not done for any dislike for Tony Blair. I came into politics because of him. These are concerns throughout the Parliamentary Labour Party."
He said in a statement released last night: "I feel it would be wrong, amid the current disorder, for me to do so without also associating myself with my seven colleagues from the 2001 intake who also resigned today.
"Like them I no longer believe that the party and the Government can renew itself in office without urgently renewing the leadership."
Mr Wright, was told last Friday that the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, had asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) to review maternity and paediatric services across Teesside.
The services were one of the key components of the Darzi Review which mapped out the future plans for North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals.
Mr Wright said he could not agree with the Secretary of State's decision and could no longer be part of the Government's health team.
"My feeling is that I have taken a backward step. It is not something I have done lightly but ultimately I have to listen to my conscience. I had to ask myself whether I was in politics for a cushy ministerial job or to serve the people of Hartlepool. They always come first. I am really disappointed that it has come to this but I just can't accept the decision made by the Secretary of State," he said. "The hospital saga has been going on for five years now. Darzi was a marvellous development which was good for Hartlepool hospital and also good for James Cook and North Tees hospitals.
"Darzi is not a hit and miss thing. It should have been implemented in full. Quite what the Secretary of State is doing I don't know and I am annoyed that I wasn't consulted.
"I couldn't have been seen to be part of that decision while being a member of the health team.
"I think this is a backward step for the hospital. Darzi had shown a sustainable future and if you pull one service out the whole thing goes.
"I could have kept my mouth shut and said it was just another review but in principle I could not have done that. I dread to think how much Darzi has cost. This is the third or fourth review of services in Hartlepool. Talk about inefficiency of money."
Mr Wright said he would now fight the issue of the hospital from the backbenches.
"We are not in the business of government to put forward our own self interests," he said.
"We need to pull together and stand firm as a town and I want to lead the calls to make sure Darzi is implemented in full."
Letter of resignation
Dear Tony,
Letter of resignation
It is with regret that I offer my resignation as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Health.
I was informed on Friday that the Secretary of State for Health has asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) to undertake a review in respect of maternity and paediatric services in Teesside. I am fundamentally opposed to this decision, as I believe that it is not in the best interests of the people of Hartlepool.
The Darzi review mapped out a viable future for the hospitals of Hartlepool and North Tees.
Under the Darzi recommendations, the University Hospital of North Tees becomes the main centre north of the Tees for emergency surgery with expanded intensive care facilities and develops the North Tees Complex Surgical Centre.
The University Hospital of Hartlepool becomes a Centre of Excellence in Women's and Children's Services, including consultant-led maternity, planned gynaecology, breast surgery, emergency paediatric medical treatment and planned children's operations. By allowing the IRP to specifically review maternity and paediatric services, the Secretary of State is undermining the work carried out by Professor Darzi. This makes a mockery of pledges made by you and Dr John Reid MP during the Hartlepool by-election that the hospital in Hartlepool would have a vibrant future. Such a sustainable future was provided by Darzi's proposals. A further review prolongs uncertainty, lowers morale amongst staff and prevents stakeholders from addressing significant health inequalities in the Tees area.
In his letter to the Secretary of State of Health dated 31 July 2006, Councillor Gerald Wistow, chairman of the adult and community services and health scrutiny forum stated that:
"(The Forum] considers that the (Joint Scrutiny] referral's treatment of the Darzi proposals for maternity and paediatric services threaten the
integrity of the overall package, including the sustainability of Hartlepool Hospital. As these consequences are apparently neither recognised
nor accepted in the referral, the forum cannot
accept that the proposalsfor maternity and
paediatric services are in the interests of either its local community and local health services or those
on Teesside, more generally."
The Secretary of State has expressly failed to take this view into account, to the detriment of the people of Hartlepool and the surrounding area, including your own constituency.
I hope you will appreciate that, in the last 48 – 72 hours, I have been in contact with the Secretary of State for Health, the Health Minister and the regional whip. I have also discussed this issue with you personally this morning. When we spoke, however, you acknowledged that I could not credibly lead the opposition to this decision while continuing in the Health Team.
I have also discussed this matter at a meeting of the Hartlepool Constituency Labour Party this evening, where party members share my view that the most honourable way in which to demonstrate my opposition to the decision is to resign from the Government's Health Team. This will allow me to campaign locally for the full and complete implementation of Darzi's recommendations.
I have always been an utterly loyal member of the Labour Party. Resigning from a Labour government of whose achievements I am so immensely proud is therefore a matter for me of the utmost regret. However, I feel it would be wrong, amid the current disorder, for me to do so without also associating myself with my seven colleagues from the 2001 intake who also resigned today. Like them, I no longer believe that the party and the government can renew itself in office without urgently renewing the leadership.
Your, ever,
Iain Wright
Member of Parliament for Hartlepool
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Weather for Hartlepool
Saturday 04 February 2012
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