Jeremy Corbyn: Leaked documents prove NHS 'on the table' in US trade talks
2 min read
Leaked government documents prove the NHS is "on the table" in post-Brexit trade talks between the UK and US, Jeremy Corbyn has claimed.
The Labour leader produced 451 pages of previously-redacted notes which he said proved Boris Johnson was lying when he claimed the health service was not "up for sale".
The document provided details of six meetings over a two-year period between UK and American officials
Mr Corbyn said it "pulls back the curtain" on Conservative plans to give American corporations access to the NHS once the UK leaves the EU.
He said: "We have now got evidence that under Boris Johnson the NHS is on the table and will be up for sale. He tried to cover it up in a secret agenda and today it has been exposed."
The Labour leader said the cost of medicines has been discussed, adding that “lives will be put at risk” as a result of longer patents for drugs making them more expensive to patients.
He added: "This election is now a fight for the survival of our National Health Service."
Mr Corbyn said a deal with the US on the terms outlined in the documents will lead to the “runaway privatisation of our NHS” as he labelled it "a plot against our whole country".
He said big corporations are looking to “make billions from the illness and sickness of people in this country”.
And waving the hundreds of pages of minutes from the meetings, he called on the PM to “explain how all of this is an absolute invention”.
The Conservative manifesto, which was released on Sunday, was unequivocal about the health service not forming part of trade negotiations, saying: “The NHS is not on the table.
“The price the NHS pays for drugs is not on the table. The services the NHS provides are not on the table."
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