Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, responding to the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement on NHS waiting time standards for mental health, said:

“You cannot trust a word Nick Clegg says. He’s broken his promises and been too weak to stand up to the Tories.

“Nick Clegg is part of a Government that has allowed mental health services to fall into crisis. Vulnerable people– including children - are forced to travel hundreds of miles in search of a bed. Even now he is cutting mental health funding more deeply than the rest of the NHS. Action to stop this is welcome, but he needs to do more to address the decline on his watch.

“For over four years, Nick Clegg has let mental health services slip backwards. Waiting times for talking therapies have got longer and people are struggling to get the support they need. Only Labour’s vision for a national health and care service has mental health at its heart, not relegated to the fringes.”

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