Emily Thornberry Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury
Today the government announced £400 million for “talking therapies” as part of the new Mental Health Strategy. On the face of it this is good news.
But rather than make the announcement in Westminster as the Government is supposed to, MPs had to learn about this through the Today Programme, the Guardian, the Times and the Independent.
It seems that Ministers didn’t have time to come to Parliament to make the announcement, but spent their time touring the television studios.
This means the government has dodged the big questions on their new strategy: is this money new, and how will it be spent to get the results that we all want to see?