Camden New Journal - Rose hacker

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Camden New Journal - by ROSE HACKER
Published: 21 June 2007

Will you take a stand to stem the country’s dependence on casinos and gambling in all its forms including making money out of human misery by privatising services for education, the handicapped and especially old people?

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Hazel Blears	No, the country is not dependent on casinos and gambling, nor does the Labour Government support 'privatisation'.

Jon Cruddas	In respect to people being able to gamble in casinos, I believe that people have the freedom to gamble if they wish, but with effective regulation of the industry in place. In regards to privatising services, as above, I believe that we do need a moratorium on the extent of the private sector involvement; as for example, in the NHS the volume of work being handed over to private treatment centres is beginning to threaten core services.

Peter Hain	As I explained above, I believe that public services should, as a general rule, be publicly provided.We need to make sure that casinos are properly regulated and vulnerable people are protected. I am not in favour of banning gambling. Many communities would welcome the jobs and regeneration that could be provided by a casino.

Harriet Harman	The competition from different cities to host the new super casino shows that it is seen as a boost for the local economy. However, the country is not and never will be dependent on casinos and gambling for vital services like schools, for the disabled or for the elderly.In terms of privatisation of public services, I think that if more hip operations can be done by using an independent treatment centre to boost capacity, that is in the public interest. But the overwhelming emphasis must be on increasing publicly-provided capacity. As I have already said – the most important thing about our public services is the public service ethos of which we should be proud.

Alan Johnson	I don't think that we are dependent on casinos and nor have we privatised public services. Where new casinos are being built, they will create employment and fund regeneration projects but the decisions need to be made transparently and sensitively.

Hllary Benn	Hilary Benn's response coming soon

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