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Government tables more than 100 amendments to health bill

By Ian Quinn

The Government has made more than 100 amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill, MPs have been told.

As the bill continued to provoke huge opposition from inside and outside the House of Commons, MPs heard yesterday that the raft of amendments had all been made in the previous 24 hours.

(Download the full list of amendments here)

The new proposals come a week after GP pressure helped force health secretary Andrew Lansley into a climbdown over price competition in the health service.

After the latest amendments were confirmed, Labour MP Derek Twigg told the Commons: ‘The situation appears to be another example of a Government in disarray. Only last week they submitted amendments in respect of their U-turn on prices.'

However a Department of Health spokesperson described the changes as 'minor, technical amendments', most of which were consequential changes to existing legislation to remove references to PCTs and SHAs.

'It's perfectly normal for all Bills to have a number of Government amendments made during a Bill's passage,' she said.

The Government has tabled dozens of amendments to the health bill The Government has tabled dozens of amendments to the health bill Read the amendments

To download the full list of amendments added this week, please click here.