I’m Aliya from the Patients Not Passports campaign and it’s an honour to be here today, joining this fight to save Liverpool Women’s Hospital. 

The Government is waging war on us, on our public services, and on our migrant & refugee communities. They tell us that migrants are to blame for overstretched schools and hospitals. But that is a lie.

It is the government that underfunds our NHS, and tells health workers to work harder for less. This is a crisis they have created. 

They tell us it’s people seeking safety on our shores that are the problem.  But again – that is a lie: Our enemy doesn’t travel by migrant dinghy. They travel by private jet. 

And it’s a dangerous lie. Because it has created more than a decade of the racist… violent Hostile Environment immigration controls, Which has forced health workers to become border guards… deterred patients from seeking care…and caused delays in life-saving treatment…  while saddling sick people with debts they can never pay, and sending debt collectors after them. 

The hostile environment is racist and sexist at its core. It disproportionately hits black and brown migrant women and pregnant people — we see how border policies of charging migrants for maternity treatment – routinely up to £10,000 – means that some people are too afraid to get the care they need. 

Today, it’s an honour to be here with you in Liverpool, where we are standing up and fighting back. Today not only are we marching to save Liverpool Women’s hospital, we’re also marching for people like Omisha… a four-year-old girl who was charged £76,000 pounds for her cancer treatment.

We are patients not passports! 

We’re marching in solidarity with her family as they fight for justice. We’re marching for an NHS that is free for all, forever – no matter your immigration status… no matter where you are from… and no matter your ability to pay… Free at the point of use… for anyone in need. This is the socialist principle upon which it was founded, and which we must fight for. 

We must stand shoulder to shoulder… bringing our struggles together… against all attempts to divide us.  When we show up in solidarity and connect us our struggles, we know that we will win.

Save Liverpool Women’s Hospital. 

Save the NHS. 

Please see also Comfort’s speech at the start of the demonstration