British opposition leader turns election talk to health care

LONDON — Opposition leader Ed Miliband pledged Friday to limit the role of private companies in Britain’s state-funded health service as he began his Labor Party’s official campaign for the May 7 general election.

A day after losing the first major television event of the campaign to Prime Minister David Cameron, according to a snap poll, Miliband appeared with other senior Labor figures for a speech at the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London.

As well as extra funding for the National Heath Service, he vowed to impose a 5 percent profit cap on private companies providing services to it and ensure contracts are terminated if firms aren’t providing high-quality care.

Miliband is putting the Heath Service at the center of his party’s bid to regain power after five years of Cameron’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

The Labor leader pledged to fund the Heath Service with $3.7 billion more a year than the current level by taxing the most expensive homes, tackling tax avoidance by hedge funds and placing a levy on tobacco companies.

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