The Green Party claims that the Health Bill, published today, will spell the end for a publicly-run NHS - and pave the way for private companies to generate profits at the expense of taxpayers and front line services.
Green party leader Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:
"As Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities are abolished and commissioning decisions are handed to General Practitioners, we will see an influx of private companies wanting to provide contracting support for GPs' decisions."
"Forcing them to take on this extra burden, particularly given the planned cuts in NHS funding over the next 5 years, is a reckless strategy. The fact is, the coalition government knows perfectly well that GPs will have neither the time, the will nor the necessary skills to commission health care - and this is precisely where private companies come in.
"Andrew Lansley's proposals will mean that, for the first time, the NHS is opened up to EU competition law. In reality, this puts services at the mercy of price competition between providers - making them dangerously vulnerable to a drop in standards."
The Health Bill has attracted criticism from many organisations, including the British Medical Assosiation, the Royal College of Nursing and UNISON.
Caroline Lucas MP concluded:
"Labour cannot now mount a principled defence of the NHS since, when they were in power, they welcomed in private healthcare providers and saddled the NHS with huge debts through PFI schemes. Labour started the ball rolling on a transition towards NHS privatisation - now the Tory-led government is taking us ever further down that road".