PCS NEC election season is once again upon us, and with it comes the usual sudden upturn in activity from the Socialist Party, led by its chief PCS mouthpiece and perennial election candidate, Marion Lloyd.

There are few things in life that Marion enjoys more than the sound of her own voice, so it is no surprise that she is now publicly calling for another meeting so she can further indulge her favourite pastime.

In order to justify her call, she points to a press article this week in The Guardian, which highlighted plans by a right-wing Labour think tank to take a “chainsaw” to the civil service.

That approach has already been comprehensively dismissed by the government.  They described it as a “juvenile characterisation” of their plans for the civil service.

Not that this has deterred Marion. She has again today reiterated her call, claiming that the General Secretary and the National President are “asleep at the wheel”; and claiming that the government has “cut NHS England by 50%”.

It is Marion who appears to be asleep. The government has today in fact announced that NHS England will be abolished, not cut; and that the health service will be brought back into democratic control.

PCS has long argued for a more coherent public service delivery model, with an active state that mobilises to improve the lives of the public.  We do not believe that quangos are the best way to achieve this and we welcome moves to bring arm’s-length bodies back under direct state control.

Furthermore, in NHS England, PCS has a membership density of around 1.14%.  Our negotiators have matters in hand and are in talks with the employer to ensure that the interests of those members are protected during any transfer process into the Department for Health and Social Care. 

It is therefore unclear why this development necessitates an emergency NEC meeting, particularly in light of discussions that have taken place at ministerial level on rewiring the civil service, reported on yesterday by the General Secretary here; and in light of the statement issued by the General Secretary today in response to the Prime Minister’s announcements which can be found here

Unclear that it is, until you realise that it is election season, and Marion needs some strawmen to knock down, probably to deflect from 12 months of achieving nothing other than continuing to unnecessarily soak members for a levy. 

PCS activists and members should not be fooled by this ridiculous posturing.