On Monday 4 September, over 30 mostly Heeley Labour Party activists turned out over the three actions being held at lunchtime and teatime at Archer Road and an hour in between times at Farm Road. 

Heeley Labour members together with comrades from Unite, DPAC and other Labour branches gave out the Fast Food Campaign leaflets to customers at the fast food restaurant, as well as Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise 'Your Rights at Work' leaflets and BFAWU sign up forms to the employees (although it was not possible to engage with them in their busy work environment.)

There were lots of cars beeping horns to show support and in the tea time shift McDonalds employees said they had been talking about the action so perhaps the earlier shift had created discussion.

My thanks to all in Heeley Labour who supported the action including helping getting the campaign materials together.

Report by Sarah Choonara, Heeley CLP member. Photos provided by Sarah.

The Heeley CLP Naylor Review subgroup include members Romola Guiton, Andrea Warner, Barry Fitzgerald and others who have attended one or more meetings to investigate and discuss this report which focuses on selling off NHS assets.

The group decided to submit a contemporary motion to the CLP after Mike Simkin from Save our NHS attended their meeting held on 16 August. Mike alerted the group to a recent article "Multibillion NHS Land Sales Plan to be approved Next Month", in The Health Service Journal, by Allison Coggan, 14 August 2017. 

The contemporary motion, proposed to be put forward to the Labour Party Conference 2017 'The Naylor Report: NHS Privatisation by the back door ' was presented to members attending the Heeley CLP meeting held on 1 September at the Heeley Institute.

The Naylor Report (31/03/17) is an apparently dry report concerned with NHS estate and assets. When Teresa May was asked by Andrew Neal about additional funding for the NHS before the General Election, she said she would follow the proposals from Naylor.  The Naylor Report is about the NHS selling off apparently 'surplus' land and buildings which could raise between £3-5bn. It is also about modernisation of NHS estate. The downside is that public and private finance will be inextricably merged and the NHS will become dependent on PFI style  agreements rather than owning many of its assets. 

Following Parliament's return in Sept 2017 Treasury sign off is expected for the business case for Project Phoenix, which will establish six regional Private Public Partnerships(PPP) covering England. PPPs will be advertised in the Official Journal of the EU and a tendering process will take place. The report is intent on “swift action to accelerate change” in the ownership of NHS assets. Community Health Partnerships, which include three private sector companies, will offer upfront capital funding to develop 750 new Primary Care Centres, costing the NHS £200million pa in rental charges. 

The motion proposed that conference deplores proposals to sell NHS assets, leaving the NHS enslaved to PFI-style long-term rental agreements, driven by the investors' need to make a profit. Concern goes beyond the disposal of land to the way in which Project Phoenix could give private capital significantly more influence and control on the delivery of NHS services.  Details of the profit split have yet to be revealed. Service and hospital closures are inevitable as a result of these processes. 

The motion called conference for the Labour Party to campaign, with all other NHS supporters for:

*Additional public NHS funding;

*An end to NHS cuts and service and hospital closures 

*Local consultation and consent regarding necessary service changes 

*Support for the NHS Reinstatement Bill

*Proceeds of necessary NHS asset sales to be reinvested in the NHS.

The contemporary motion the CLP passed on 1 September, concerned anti-austerity policy. 

However this motion regarding the Naylor report was also widely supported by members at this CLP meeting and the Naylor sub group will be meeting again this month to discuss further campaign activity.

The next Radical Readers book group meeting, which is open to all those interested in the topics being discussed, is taking place on Wednesday 13 September, 6.30pm at the Mugen Tearooms, Scotland Street, S3 7AA.

The group will be reading the following:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2017/jun/12/paul-mason-jeremy-corbyn-defeat-ruling-elite-antonio-gramsci

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/06/jeremy-corbyn-election-results-labour-theresa-may-

https://cura.our.dmu.ac.uk/2017/06/13/from-surge-to-sensation-corbynism-and-the-unexpected-renaissance-of-the-british-left/

These online documents were picked because people wanted to look at why Corbyn and his brand of politics did so well during the General Election of 2017. 

The future book list is:

Oct 12th - Corbyn the Strange Birth of Radical Politics

Nov 8th - The State in Capitalist Society: The Analysis of Western System of Power by Ralph Milliband

Dec 13th (Christmas Book Club) - Christmas 2016 by Barbara Shoff.

All these books can be found on Amazon at a reasonable price, because the group’s organisers don't want anyone excluded from this group.

Happy Reading!