The SNP has written to Labour's Shadow Health Minister at Holyrood, Neil Findlay, urging for clarity on his party's threat to Scotland's NHS after Labour's UK health spokesperson said he wanted "health policies that can be consistent across England, Scotland and Wales". Speaking to Holyrood Magazine, Andy Burnham, shadow Secretary of State for health, said: “That is why I am talking quite passionately about getting English Labour MPs back up the road and for me, sitting down with Neil [Findlay] and Richard [Simpson] and Rhoda [Grant] and others and saying, let’s get health policies that can be consistent across England, Scotland and Wales. Wouldn't that be a good thing, pulling in the same direction as opposed to pulling our separate ways?" SNP MSP Aileen McLeod, who sits on the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee, has written to Neil Findlay, asking if he agrees with the idea of a UK-wide NHS policy. Commenting, Ms McLeod said:
"Our precious health service appears to be under a very real threat from Labour at Westminster. "If there was a UK-wide NHS policy, how would Scotland be able to protect itself from Tory privatisation - or "American-style health care", to quote Andy Burnham from last week. "That is why I have written to Neil Findlay seeking urgent clarification on what Labour in Scotland's position is on this - what have they discussed and agreed to? "If Scotland's NHS were put under a UK umbrella it would be under threat from future Westminster governments privatising it, just like is happening now to the NHS in England. "Scotland's NHS is a far stronger public service when compared to the fragmentation of the NHS south of the border - and that is precisely because it is under the control of the Scottish Parliament, not Westminster. "Our fantastic health service - which proves that decisions for Scotland are best made in Scotland - makes the case for a YES vote and independence, not for Westminster control of Scottish affairs."
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