It has come to my attention that there are a number of posts circling on social media regarding my colleagues and I supposedly voting against a clause on Monday that protects the sale of the NHS. Let me be clear: the NHS is NOT for sale.
It doesn't matter how many times Labour play politics with the NHS, it still isn’t on the table in trade deals.
🔷 It wasn’t yesterday, it isn’t today, it won’t be next year
🔷 The price the NHS pays for drugs isn't on the table
🔷The services the NHS provides are not on the table
Yesterday's stunt from Labour was a distasteful exercise in parliamentary showboating.
I understand that a Tweet was put out by the House of Commons regarding the vote on New Clause 17 and this has since been taken in down in line with the House’s regulations on impartiality. You can find out more here: https://twitter.com/HouseofCommons/status/1285616598037024768
The amendment was not designed to help the NHS.
Text from the actual Trade Bill itself says:
''Regulations under subsection (1) may make provision for the purpose of implementing a free trade agreement only if the other signatory (or each other signatory) and the European Union were signatories to a free trade agreement immediately before exit day.''
The Bill only rolls over pre-existing trade agreements that we already have via the EU, so it has nothing to do with any future deal with the USA.
Labour's game playing was intended to generate misleading headlines & obscure the real truth about how protecting the NHS is at the heart of our negotiations:
Our detailed negotiating objectives for new trade deals include:
✅ Protecting the right to regulate public services, including the NHS
✅ Maintaining the right to regulate investment in the national interest and continue to protect the NHS
✅ Ensuring patent provisions do not lead to increased medicines prices for the NHS
✅ Making sure that Gov Procurement maintains existing protections for NHS health services
So no, the NHS is not for sale.
And no, yesterday's Trade Bill did not have anything to do with the NHS - apart from Labour's scaremongering.
Again.