That said, I received nothing from my local Labour candidate. I also contacted Ann Keen. I initially received an automated response requiring my full contact details etc. I then got another one that informed me
Where a reply is appropriate we aim to send one within 20 working days.
I received nothing - says it all, doesn't it?! Then, on 14 April (a full month after my email) I received a response from the Dept. Health. Helpfully, this response included the sentence
As you may know, the Department of Health is part of the Civil Service and does not represent any political party.
For information on the future policies of a party, you may wish to contact the party concerned.
Well that's useful - I thought I had done! So, no response from the Labour Party then. For what it's worth, the DoH response informed me that the Neonatal Taskforce has recently published its findings, and also pointed that that the BAPM (British Association for Perinatal Medicine) standards are recommendations not mandatory. So that's a get out of jail free card then!
Very disappointing.
So, what do we conclude from the responses received? They can be summarised as follows...
Green Party
Responded
Committed to 1:1 Care
Committed to better support for families
Liberal Democrats
Responded
Implied support for all of Bliss' manifesto points
Have signed up to support Bliss Manifesto
Conservatives
Responded
Previous good communication with party
No specific commitments
Labour
Didn't respond
Previous good communication with party
No specific commitments
Have signed up to support Bliss Manifesto
At the end of the day, there are many issues that you have to consider when deciding where to put your 'X'. Based on this (admittedly limited) survey however, your choices may be slightly more limited now...
Finally, a reminder that you can contact you local candidates to get their views on the Bliss Manifesto here.
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