THE Government has been forced to make an embarrassing public U-turn over its intended privatisation of the NHS.

This privileged Government has been shaken to its wealthy foundations by the power of the working class merely lifting its little finger.

The Lib Dems can’t get a single person to stand in half of the council seats in the North-East in the forthcoming local elections. It is on course to inhabit the dustbin of history.

If you sit in the middle of the road you get knocked over.

To escalate the anti-cuts action against this reactionary Government, the TUC must now co-ordinate a 24 hour public sector general strike, followed by a 24-hour general strike of all workers.

If we want to save the NHS and public services it’s the only way.

Only the organised working class will stop these austerity measures caused by the greedy bankers. As May 26 shows, ordinary people, like their counterparts in the Middle East, are now ready and willing to stand up and be counted.

Ed Waugh, South Shields.