Bill to curb privatisation in NHS clears first hurdle

A bill aimed at curbing the role of the private sector in the NHS in England has received strong backing in the UK parliament.

MPs voted by 241 to 18 to give a second reading to the National Health Service (Amended Duties and Powers) Bill, a private member’s bill that would reverse elements of the coalition government’s Health and Social Care Act 2012.

The bill, tabled by the Labour MP Clive Efford, would scrap rules made under the act, introduced by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat government, that provide for contracts for NHS …