RICHMOND MP William Hague is under attack by union bosses for his links to private healthcare interests.

The Conservative MP is one of a number of Coalition Government MPs who voted in favour of the controversial Health and Social Care Bill in 2012.

Unite regards the bill as the first step towards the privatisation of the NHS, pointing out that 70 per cent of NHS contracts awarded since the bill was passed have gone to private healthcare firms.

The research, carried out by Unite the UK’s largest trade union, names Coalition MPs and peers who are linked to firms which stood to benefit from the sell-off, but voted for the bill

Others Coalition MPs on the dossier include David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) and Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam) among the MPs.

Nationally the list includes Jo Johnson, Mark Simmonds, Andrew Lansley and Nadhim Zahawi.

According to Unite, William Hague received £20,000 in donations from Bruce Ferguson MacFarlane, who is a founding director of MMC Ventures. The firm part-owns The Practice Plc, which runs 60 GP surgeries and further clinical assessment and treatment services across the NHS.

A previous investigation by Unite revealed that since 2012 a total of £1.5bn has left the NHS and gone into the pockets of just 15 private companies.

Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary: said: “The Government had no mandate to sell-off our NHS, no one voted for it, yet they are doing just that. You have to ask yourself why?

“From lobbying links to investments, and in some cases direct donations, it is clear that many MPs who supported the NHS sell-off had links to the very private healthcare companies which stood to profit.

“Since the vote to sell-off our NHS, over £13 billion pounds of our local services have fallen into private hands. What’s more, this sell-off could be made irreversible by an EU-US trade deal, TTIP, which the government are now cheerleading.

“It is time to scrap the health and social care act and save our NHS.”

A spokesman for Mr Hague said: “Any donations I have ever received to my office or campaigns have been openly declared and I have not accepted any donations since 2010.”

“No donations, past or present, ever influence Conservative policies. The only party where policy is decided by donors is the Labour Party, where the Unite union dominates policy and MPs.”