Tens of thousands of people have marched through London to mark the NHS’s 70th anniversary and demand an end to government cuts and further privatisation of the health service.



Bearing placards reading “Cuts leave scars”, “For people not profit” and “Democracy or corporate power” demonstrators moved down Whitehall on Saturday afternoon to the chant of “Whose NHS? Our NHS”.

They stopped outside Downing Street to demand Theresa May’s resignation en route to the stage where they were greeted by the National Health Singers choir singing “the NHS needs saving, don’t let them break it”.

Shortly after, Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd – organisers said there were about 40,000 people present – demanding an end to privatisation, the closure of the internal market, for staff to no longer be subcontracted to private companies and for social care to be properly funded.

“There have been huge attacks on our NHS over many years,” he said. “The Tories voted against the original legislation and have always sought to privatise it and continue an internal market.

“Paying money out to private health contractors, the profits of which could and sometimes do, end up in tax havens around the world.

“Think it through, you and I pay our taxes because we want a health service for everybody, I don’t pay my taxes for someone to rip off the public and squirrel the profits away.”

Jeremy Corbyn addresses demonstrators after the march. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters

A festival atmosphere permeated the diverse crowd throughout the day, although the anger towards the government’s NHS policy was palpable as protestors proceeded down Regent Street to the thump of a marching band.

Some spoke of how the NHS had saved their lives and those of their relatives, while others feared that a comprehensive health service might not exist for future generations unless there is radical change.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the NHS, they saved my life at 15,” said Polly Ridgewell-Cook, from Essex, who added that the unit she was treated in has now been closed because of cuts.

“I’ve worked for the NHS as an analyst for 10 years, I’ve seen the frontline cuts, staff leaving because they’re not supported enough – they’re in tears in A&E.

People march through London to mark 70 years of the NHS. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

“We outsource things because we have to do so to meet targets because we don’t have the capacity. I think that’s a design. It’s just terrible, we can do better than this, we did do better than this.”

Others paid tribute to the dedication of NHS staff who saved their loved ones from the brink of death.



“NHS staff saved my mother’s life when she stopped breathing,” said Dan Harper, a protester from Camden. “The ambulance drivers resuscitated her and then went above and beyond to get her to hospital.

“Nurses from many different countries then treated her and gave me the opportunity to spend more time with her.”

A giant birthday cake for the NHS with a candle with a “For sale” sign sticking out of it was held aloft, while copies of This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor were handed out for free as “No ifs, no buts, no NHS cuts” rang out.

At midday, campaigners and politicians took to the stage outside All Souls church in Marylebone to give speeches before the march.

“I come from a generation that had to pay for their healthcare and in a climate like that it was only the rich who could afford to be healthy,” said Jan Shortt, the general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention.

A man with a birthday placard as thousands of people march to mark 70 years of the NHS. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

“On the street in Luton, Bedfordshire, where I lived there were various families who lost their children to whooping cough. My grandad told me he used to pay one and six every time the doctor came to visit and medication was extra.

“Since the budget cuts my chronically asthmatic son has been forced to change his inhaler and the new one isn’t as effective.”

NHS estate and facilities workers from Wigan, who have been on strike over privatisation at their hospital, spoke about how there are plans to transfer hundreds of staff from the NHS to a private sector company called WWL Solutions on 1 August.

“The NHS isn’t just a logo, it means everything to us,” said Joanna McClure, a striking domestic. “We’ve done two two-day strikes, we’re currently on a five-day strike and we’ll carry on striking again until we get where we need to be.

Q&A What are the financial pressures on the NHS that have built up over the last decade? Show Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, health spending increased by an average of 1.2% above inflation and increases are due to continue in real terms at a similar rate until the end of this parliament. This is far below the annual inflation-proof growth rate that the NHS enjoyed before 2010 of almost 4% stretching back to the 1950s. As budgets tighten, NHS organisations have been struggling to live within their means. In the financial year 2015-16, acute trusts recorded a deficit of £2.6bn. This was reduced to £800m last year, though only after a £1.8bn bung from the Department of Health, which shows the deficit remained the same year on year. Read a full Q&A on the NHS winter crisis

“We’re passionate about working for the NHS but a lot of things have changed: there are longer waiting times and people can’t get appointments for months. It’s getting so much more difficult.”

The government has faced enduring criticism that it has failed to adequately fund the NHS since 2010, and that it has overseen a decline in the once widely admired public health service as a way to privatise it by stealth.

Earlier this month, Theresa May promised an extra £20bn of funding as part of a “Brexit dividend”, although a government spending watchdog challenged the basis of the pledge, which it suggested was ambiguous.



• This article was amended on 2 July 2018 to make clear that staff striking at Wigan are estate and facilities workers, including Joanna McClure who is a domestic, not a nurse as originally stated.