Conservative Party Press Releases 27th Sept 07

Commenting on an article in the Lancet tomorrow which is highly critical of Gordon Brown's policy on tackling hospital bugs like MRSA and C-difficile, Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, said:

"We have been very clear that we need a search and destroy strategy against hospital superbugs, which is an evidence based approach. "My discussions with the Centre for Hospital Acquired Infections in Nottingham suggest that it will require a six year programme to bring the levels of MRSA down in line with Holland and Denmark."We need a wide ranging programme. Deep cleaning is only one early step and is no good if applied in isolation without the rest of the strategy."Gordon Brown is engaging in populist gimmicks. Conservatives are the party putting forward the necessary policies of government."

Responding to comments made today by British Medical Association chief, Hamish Meldrum, who has accused Gordon Brown of spin, Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:

"NHS professionals know that Gordon Brown's recent announcements are built on spin because they have watched for the past ten years as this government has spent millions and achieved very little."Gordon Brown's comments this week about GP out-of-hours services missed one major point – that his government is to blame for negotiating a contract that has meant doctors have less control in delivering Saturday and evening services."

Responding to Yvette Cooper's conference speech on housing today, Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said:

"This is yet more empty rhetoric from the Government. Home ownership is now falling under Labour and the number of first time buyers is at its lowest rate since 1980. In the meantime Ministers are pressing ahead with plans for home information packs – against advice from experts, the industry and the public – gambling with the housing market when it is needed least."

Commenting on the Government's announcement that the law protecting people who intervene in criminal situations should be reviewed, Shadow Secretary for Justice, Nick Herbert, said:

"Jack Straw, the Government and Labour MPs have fought us for years when we repeatedly urged a change in the law to allow people to protect their homes against burglars, and the last time the Government cynically signalled a change on this they reneged just months later. People will rightly question the motive and substance of this latest review and whether the author of Labour's Human Rights Act really believes in a long overdue rebalancing of the law in favour of the victims of crime."