Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has recently discovered his spine after his key voting issue was trounced in elections thanks to the Tories. The Conservatives have been attempting to ram through major changes to the NHS but Clegg is now pushing it back for a more in depth review. If the coalition crumbles, it's not clear that the Conservatives could hold the government together so while they can complain, their options are limited.
Clegg told patients and medical professionals at University College London hospital that it would be wrong to force the bill through parliament after the government's "listening exercise" on the NHS proposals ends next month.
"I don't think it would be right for us to hold this listening exercise – to make big changes to the legislation – and then to seek to bounce it through parliament," he said. "It is very important that MPs, who represent millions of patients up and down the country, have the opportunity to really look at the details that we are proposing.
"I think we will need to send the bill back to committee. I have always said that it is best to take our time to get it right rather than move too fast and risk getting the details wrong."
