Defend the NHS campaigners to hold rally outside Labour conference in Brighton

John McDonnell at a previous march with Sussex Defend the NHS

The rally, featuring Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and with send-off by Brighton MPs Caroline Lucas and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, will march from The Level at 11am to the seafront, congregating outside the Labour Party conference at the Brighton Centre.

The campaign said it is using the rally to draw attention the government’s Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs).

Campaigner Janet Sang said: "STPs involve carving the NHS in forty four regional ‘footprints’ that will further erode any democratic accountability to local communities and will see 20 per cent of the budget - billions of pounds- slashed, services privatised, hospital closures, downgrading of terms and conditions and job losses across the entire NHS.

“In our region alone that will be hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts to essential services. We ask as many people from the local area and beyond to join us on 24th and show their opposition."

The march is set to assemble on The Level at 11am on September 24, where campaigners will be addressed by local MPs, Gail Cartmail (assistant general secretary of UNITE), and a local A&E consultant. It will set off at 11.30am, reaching the seafront outside the Brighton Centre at 12.30pm for a speech by John McDonnell.