We Own It held a demonstration at Labour Conference, part of our Reinstate the NHS campaign, to demand that Keir Starmer commit to reinstate the NHS as a fully public service. 

The Labour Party created the NHS in 1948 to work for patients, not profit. Now, with waiting lists of over 7.7 million people, and staff striking for better pay and conditions, we believe it is time for Keir Starmer to step up and fix the crisis created by 13 years of privatisation and outsourcing of NHS services under five successive Conservative prime ministers.

Speaking on BBC South at the event, We Own It Director Cat Hobbs said “Labour could be telling a very straightforward story that we don't want shareholders profiting. We don't want US companies running our health services. It doesn't work. It's failed patients, and we need to actually invest in, trust in, build on our NHS as it was intended to be.”

Labour so far haven’t committed to this, but we are not giving up. We know that greater support for the NHS would be hugely popular with the public. 

• Last year, a Survation/We Own It poll revealed that 78% of the British public believe the NHS should be in public ownership
• Recent research by More in Common has shown that the NHS as the second most important issue facing the country after the cost of living crisis. 

What a waste

Wes Streeting in his speech to Labour conference says it wants to end waste. But we know that privatisation is wasteful. It undermines the NHS, short and long term, and according to a recent Oxford University study it is linked to lower quality care, including the preventable deaths of 557 people.

How you can be a part of this fight

Here are five simple things that you can do now to fight back against the privatisation of our NHS:

1. Add your name to the more than 10,000 people who have written asking Keir Starmer to restore our NHS, so we can be proud of it again. Go to https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/starmer-reinstate-our-nhs-fully-public-service.
    
2. Sign up to our email list so you can be part of our campaign against NHS privatisation. Go to https://weownit.org.uk/people-not-profit.
    
3. Sign our petition demanding that after 13 years of Conservative governments damaging our NHS, Keir Starmer must commit to reinstate our NHS as a fully public service. To sign simply go to https://weownit.org.uk/starmer.
    
4. Make a contribution to our work so we can continue to put pressure on the people in power. 
    
5. Watch and share the video below: