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Regional daily backs bid to get NHS founder on banknotes

A campaign to put the founder of the NHS on £20 banknotes has won the backing of a regional daily.

The South Wales Argus has lent its support to a petition to get Aneurin Bevan’s face on the notes, which has gained more than 5,500 signatures online.

The campaign has been set up to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS, which is in three years’ time, by the National Health Action Party.

Bevan, who served as Minister for Health in Clement Attlee’s post-war Labour government, was born in Tredegar and served as MP for Ebbw Vale, which are both on the patch of the Newport-based title.

Bevan

Commenting on the campaign, Argus editor Kevin Ward wrote: “The National Health Service will be one of the key battlegrounds during this year’s General Election.

“Indeed, the NHS has been a political football since its inception in 1948.

“Yet every leader of every major political party since then has attempted to persuade the voting public that the NHS is safe in their hands.

“It is one of this country’s defining institutions – a health service that is free at the point of use – and remains the envy of many nations across the world.

“It has its problems, but we doubt there are many people in Britain who would want to be without the National Health Service.”

He added: “The campaign to see Mr Bevan, who was born in Tredegar and represented Ebbw Vale in the House of Commons for more than 30 years, on £20 notes has been backed by thousands of people.

“It would be a fitting tribute to both Mr Bevan and to our free health service.”