How can Nick Clegg recover from defeat in the AV referendum? Andrew Grice considers the
question in his column and reveals that
Clegg is not too bothered about AV: his sight is trained on a bigger prize.
‘A U-turn in the controversial NHS reforms to hand 80 per cent of the budget to GPs and scrap primary care trusts (PCTs). Mr Clegg is convinced that there must be big symbolic changes to the NHS and Social Care Bill. That would not be good news for Andrew Lansley…He knows that Mr Cameron will demand some changes and is prepared to see a few technical amendments to the Bill during its passage through Parliament…Mr Clegg’s worry is that the public would not notice fine-tuning. He fears that such a big shake-up, at a time when the NHS will be under intense pressure to make efficiency savings, would result in the Government being blamed for all the ills caused by the cash squeeze.’
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