18 January 2024 , 22:58
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It should be a source of shame that dental decay is now the single biggest reason for children needing hospital treatment.
In the last five years more than 100,000 have been admitted with rotting teeth. It is a stark illustration of how dental services have declined under this government. Funding has not increased in real terms since 2010 and we now spend less on dentistry than any other European country. After 14 years of Tory austerity there are fewer and fewer NHS dentists available. A recent survey found nine out of 10 practices no longer take on new patients.
The British Dental Association estimates that 12 million people go untreated while 40% of children no longer get regular check-ups. Ministers appear oblivious to children left in pain or adults resorting to DIY “cures”.
NHS dentists should be available for all. The Government must restore funding to pre-2010 levels and scrap perverse contracts which pay dentists the same amount for one filling or 20. The reason so many people have rotten teeth is because we have a rotten government.
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Save our steel
For more than 100 years Port Talbot has been the steel capital of Britain. That proud history is now set to come to an end with the loss of 3,000 jobs. Closure will be devastating for the local community and the wider Welsh economy.
It did not have to be. If owners Tata had put together a proper transition plan as it moves towards a greener future then the plant and the jobs would have been saved.
It is not too late for the Government to intervene to broker a deal that protects workers and maintains production.
This is a test of how much the Tories care about British manufacturing and British jobs.
Royal lesson
One of the late Queen’s favourite TV shows was Grange Hill. Her Majesty did not just have class, she liked to keep in touch with what happened in class.