Trump U-turns on NHS trade demand: US president says health service would NOT be ‘on the table’ in a post-Brexit deal after outcry from Tories and Labour
- President sparked transatlantic row saying NHS is ‘on the table’ in trade talks
- Mr Trump said two countries could agree a ‘phenomenal’ £2.4 trillion pact
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock, a would-be PM, said: ‘The NHS isn’t on the table’
- Dominic Raab said the NHS ‘is not for sale’ and would not be if he was in No 10
- Mr Trump rowed back his claim today saying he did not view the NHS as ‘trade’
Donald Trump today U-turned on his demand for the NHS to be ‘on the table’ in a transatlantic trade deal.
The US President caused a storm by insisting ‘everything’ would be up for grabs in a ‘phenomenal’ post-Brexit pact that could see commerce treble to £2.4trillion.
Theresa May immediately tried to quash the idea at their joint press conference yesterday, while Tory leadership hopefuls and Labour also rejected it.
Mr Trump rowed back on the claim in an interview with ITV’s GMB this morning, saying: ‘I don’t see it being on the table. Somebody asked me a question… and I say everything is up for negotiation, because everything is.
‘But I don’t see that as being, that something that I would not consider part of trade. That’s not trade.’
Trade issues dominated talks between Mrs May and Mr Trump in Downing Street, with both leaders voicing optimism that a major deal could be clinched quickly after the UK left the EU.
The Prime Minister spoke of ‘huge opportunities’, adding: ‘It is a great partnership but I think a partnership we can take even further. Of course that is with a good bilateral trade deal.’
But Mrs May moved swiftly to warn the US President the NHS was likely to be a no-go zone for trade negotiators, given its protected status in British politics.
Donald Trump (pictured on ITV’s GMB today) caused a storm by insisting ‘everything’ would be up for grabs in a ‘phenomenal’ post-Brexit pact that could see commerce treble to £2.4trillion.
Mr Trump rowed back on his claim about the NHS in an interview with ITV’s GMB this morning
Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab were among the Tory contenders who dismissed the demand from Mr Trump
But his statement that ‘everything’ would be up for grabs, including the health service, caused an immediate backlash. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is bidding to be prime minister, said the NHS would never be up for negotiation ‘on my watch’.
Asked during the press conference whether the talks could include the NHS, Mr Trump replied: ‘I think everything with a trade deal is on the table. When you’re dealing in trade everything is on the table so NHS or anything else, a lot more than that, but everything will be on the table, absolutely.’
Mr Trump, one of the few world leaders to back Brexit, has criticised Mrs May’s approach in the past and previously advised her to ‘sue the EU’.
But, at their final press conference yesterday, he praised her, saying she had ‘brought Brexit to a very good point where something will happen soon’.
He added: ‘I would have sued. I would have sued and settled, maybe, but you never know. She’s probably a better negotiator than I am. She has got it, in a sense – that deal is teed up, I think they have to do something.
‘Perhaps you won’t be given the credit you deserve if they do something, but I think you deserve a lot of credit.’ The President, who has urged Britain to throw off the ‘shackles’ of the EU, underlined the potential for a ‘very, very substantial trade deal’ with the US.
But controversy has surrounded the idea, with critics warning that it could involve the creeping privatisation of the NHS and force the UK to accept US farm products such as chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef.
Mr Trump and Mrs May held a joint press conference in the opulent surroundings of the Foreign Office after talks yesterday
Tory hopefuls Sam Gyimah and Rory Stewart also weighed into the row over the NHS last night
Kate Andrews, of the free market Institute for Economic Affairs, claimed the NHS issue was ‘a storm in a tea cup’.
She added: ‘America is not interested in providing NHS services, but rather expanding the drugs market, potentially widening access to medicine in the UK. American companies can already bid, and win, NHS contracts.
‘What the US proposes for a trade agreement is the starting position, not the final conclusion.
But Mr Hancock said on Twitter: ‘Dear Mr President. The NHS isn’t on the table in trade talks – and never will be. Not on my watch.’
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who is another leadership rival, said: ‘The NHS is not for sale.’
Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘The prospect of US corporations taking over our NHS is a nightmare scenario.’
Source: Read Full Article