Labour pledges reversal of NHS hospital opt-outs .sx By Stephen Castle .sx Political Correspondent .sx ROBIN COOK , Labour's health spokesman , yesterday repeated party opposition to the internal market in the National Health Service and said there had been " no secret pacts with health service managers " to maintain hospital trusts .sx Speaking to prospective Labour parliamentary candidates in London , Mr Cook said his party " will bring back into the local NHS all those hospitals that have opted out " .sx " If there is an election in November and we win office we will stop any hospital in the pipeline .sx " .sx He and his colleagues are concerned that managers have told some NGS staff that a Labour government would accept trust status as a fait accompli .sx However , Mr Cook said Tory plans for an internal market demonstrated the division between the values of the two parties .sx Using the United States as an example , he argued that markets in health care are flawed because they stimulate demand and encourage unnecessary treatment , and because they focus attention on costs of episodes of health care .sx Resources are also being concentrated on those with higher " purchasing power " .sx The briefing on health for parliamentary candidates underlines Labour's determination to keep the issue high on the political agenda .sx Mr Cook said Labour is committed to structural reforms of the health authorities , including a deployment of some mangers to long-term planning while others concentrate on everyday administration .sx Singapore's voters give regime a shock .sx From Kevin Hamlin in Singapore .sx SINGAPORE's ruling People's Action Party ( PAP ) suffered stunning losses in Saturday's general election , opening a new political chapter in the island republic and raising questions over Goh Chok Tong's future as Prime Minister .sx Though by most yardsticks the PAP won a landslide victory , having secured 77 seats in the 81-seat parliament , Mr Goh was visibly shaken by the opposition's winning four seats .sx The PAP's share of vote dipped to 61 per cent from 63.2 per cent in 1988 .sx The Singapore Democratic Party ( SDP ) , which previously held the only opposition seat , won three seats while the Workers Party took one .sx The opposition had never previously held more than two seats .sx Mr Goh , who took over from the iron-fisted Lee Kuan Yew nine months ago , had asked for a ringing endorsement of his more liberal style of government .sx With the economy booming and Mr Goh riding a wave of popular support , many expected him to romp home .sx But the opposition surprised the PAP by contesting only 40 seats , believing that more Singaporeans would vote for them if there was no possibility of a freak upset for the PAP .sx Mr Goh yesterday conceded that the strategy had hurt the PAP but scolded Singaporeans for " wanting their cake and eating it " .sx " I called this election to seek a solid endorsement for my leadership , " Mr Goh said .sx " That solid endorsement did not come .sx The PAP's role will now be that of a conventional governing party [in a] partisan situation .sx This is a new situation .sx Politics in Singapore cannot go on as before .sx Certain things have to change now .sx " Mr Goh threatened to withdraw basic services from constituencies where opposition candidates had won .sx He said he could be " a little deaf " to the needs of people in opposition seats .sx He also accused opposition candidates in one constituency of using racial politics to win votes from the minority Malays and said this caused him to be " deeply concerned for the future shape of politics in multi-racial Singapore " .sx Malays account for about 15 per cent of the population , Indians 6 per cent and Chinese the remainder .sx Jubilant opposition parties , led by Chiam See Tong's SDP , reacted angrily to Mr Goh's threat to withdraw constituency services .sx " He is the Prime Minister of the whole nation and not just of constituencies that are sympathetic to the PAP , " Mr Chiam said .sx " I hope he will look at things from the national point of view and not just from his party interests .sx " " The first thing Goh should do is to respect the choice of the people , " said Low Thia Khiang , who became the Workers Party's sole member of parliament .sx Some opposition politicians believe the outcome could signal the beginning of the end for Mr Goh's brief reign .sx J B Jeyaretnam , head of the Workers Party , said :sx " Goh is on his way out , " and suggested that Brigadier-General Lee Hsien Loong , the Deputy Prime Minister and Lee Kuan Yew's son , may make a bid for the leadership .sx The ambitious Lee junior is believed to favour his father's tougher style of leadership , and many observers believe Lee senior remains the ultimate puppet master .sx But Mr Goh said his position was secure .sx Though he occupied centre stage , the election campaign was a team effort , not a " solo show " , he said , adding that Lee junior was in charge of campaign strategy .sx Mr Goh acknowledged that the loss of votes meant he had to ask himself some fundamental questions .sx However , Mr Chiam said the people were the victors and that yesterday was a landmark in Singapore's political development .sx " The PAP treat all Singaporeans like little children , " he said .sx " We , the opposition , have changed that style to make them realise that the relationship between government and the people is not a parent and child relationship , but a relationship of equals .sx " .sx Kinnock looks to autumn poll as TUC toes the line .sx By Barrie Clement .sx Labour Editor .sx A BUOYANT Neil Kinnock yesterday put Scottish MPs on general election alert for 7 November after the Trades Union congress voted overwhelmingly to reject a potentially damaging motion on employment law proposed by Arthur Scargill .sx Mr. Kinnock , who was attending a dinner with the TUC's ruling General Council , said that date would allow John Major to use the Conservative Party Conference as an election platform .sx The Labour leader indicated that the party was ready for the Prime Minister to go to the country on November 7 , 14 , 21 " or any day except Christmas Day " .sx Earlier , Congress had defeated a motion calling for the repeal of " all anti-union legislation " - tabled by Mr Scargill , president of the National Union of Mineworkers - by 5,809,000 votes to 2,270,000 .sx A motion backing Labour's line was passed by an even larger margin .sx Mr Kinnock said the votes had helped Labour .sx " The decision signifies a constructive attitude towards industrial relations in Britain which is reciprocated by many managers .sx Trade Unions and the public recognise the need for a fair set of rules and not a punitive excess of legislation .sx " .sx The decision to endorse Labour policy was backed by the left-wing leadership of the Transport and General Workers' Union and confirmed the increasing marginalisation of hardliners in the labour movement .sx Tony Blair , Labour's employment spokesman , said the decision left Michael Howard , the Secretary of State for Employment , " looking foolish and out of date , scrabbling around to make party political capital out of industrial relations rather than working to improve them .sx " .sx However , Mr Howard hit back in a statement issued by Conservative Central Office in which he declared that the debate had been " a sham " and that there was no " practical difference " between the two motions under discussion .sx Proposing the resolution regarded as Labour loyalist , Ron Todd , general secretary of the TGWU , said unions did not want to go back to 1979 , when Government embarked on five pieces of employment legislation .sx Mr. Todd said the whole TUC debate on the issue would be academic without the return of a Labour government .sx " I am not interested in debates about the width of a butterfly's wings when my members are being slaughtered from Land's End to John O'Groats .sx " .sx He said the proposition backed by the NUM was " ambiguous" , indicating that it could mean a future Labour government should repeal laws on strike ballots and leadership elections .sx In reply , Mr Scargill said the motion simply called for Britain to honour the conventions on labour law drawn up by the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations .sx " That was the best possible defence to put before the British people , " he said .sx Democratic procedures should be determined by union members " free of state interference " , he said .sx The " ameliorist tendency " in the union movement had got it wrong .sx The media would represent the decision as a ploy to get the Labour Party elected .sx " Far better to be open and honest , " Mr Scargill said .sx Referring to Mr Scargill , Bill Jordan , right-wing leader of the Amalgamated Engineering Union , said :sx " Look east Arthur .sx Real people power is sweeping away yesterday's people and yesterdays's ideas .sx " .sx Peking Polishes its image as Major arrives .sx From Andrew Higgins in Peking .sx IN AN attempt to pre-empt criticism of its human rights record by John Major , who arrives in Peking today , China yesterday issued a detailed health report on two dissident intellectuals jailed as " masterminds " of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement .sx The report confirmed for the first time that the two men , Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming , had gone on hunger strike last month to protest against prison conditions , but said they had ended their fast and were now in " basically " good health .sx It admitted , however , that Mr Wang had suffered a " relapse of hepatitis " as claimed by his wife and previously denied by authorities .sx The relapse was due , the report said , to his " irregular eating in the recent time " .sx A prison doctor denied rumours of serious ill health and said both prisoners were receiving full and effective medical care .sx Branded as the ringleaders of the 1989 democracy movement , Mr Wang and Mr Chen were both jailed for 13 years and are being held , their families say , in solitary confinement in Peking .sx China rarely makes an official comment on political detainees and the timing of yesterday's unusually detailed account suggests a clear attempt to avert possibly embarrassing human rights complaints by Mr Major .sx Two of China's harshest critics in the US Congress are also in Peking :sx Nancy Pelosi , a California Democrat who led an unsuccessful campaign to lift China's most favoured nation trading status and Stephen Solarz , a New York Democrat .sx But it is John Major's visit that really counts for China .sx It will not only seal an agreement on the vexed issue of a new airport for Hong Kong but will also signal the end of China's post-Tiananmen quarantine .sx Arriving from Moscow , where he placed a wreath to three victims of the failed coup , Mr Major will be the first Western leader to visit Peking since the Tiananmen massacre two years ago .sx China seems eager to capitalise on the trip , with a Foreign Ministry spokesman telling the BBC last week that it marked the " full normalisation of relations " after the " twists and turns " that followed the Tiananmen killings .sx British Diplomats are more reluctant to concede such a breakthrough .sx And Mr Major will have to tread carefully .sx In Peking he will avoid the delicate question of wreaths , honouring neither the Communist party's heroes nor its victims , when he visits Tiananmen Square for a salute .sx Under fire from opposition leaders for agreeing to meet China's hardline leaders while rejoicing at the demise of old-style Communism in Moscow , Mr Major has come under strong pressure to speak out firmly on Chinese human rights abuses when he meets President Yang Shangkun and the Prime Minister , Li Peng , two of the principal architects of the 4 June massacre .sx He will also meet the Communist Party leader , Jiang Zemin , but is unlikely to meet the one man who still matters most :sx the nominally retired 87-year-old Deng Xiaoping .sx Douglas Hurd , the Foreign Secretary , yesterday defended Mr Major's trip to Peking , insisting it " does not confer our seal of approval " on the Peking regime or the bloodshed around Tiananmen .sx " The events in the Soviet Union will have shown the Chinese leadership that nothing stays the same , " he wrote in The Independent on Sunday .sx " It is not for us to say how and when change will come .sx It is for us to speak our minds and at the same time reason with those who govern China .sx " .sx British officials refuse to say whether Mr Major will raise the cases of specific political detainees , though Downing Street has made much of a meeting to be held tomorrow between Mr Major and a group of Chinese students .sx