Politics

Brexit: More than 10,000 doctors, nurses and patients demand NHS is protected in US deal


More than 10,000 NHS staff and patients are demanding the health service is protected in a post-Brexit US-UK trade deal.

A document published last week suggests Donald Trump’s administration wants to remove rules that limit what American drug companies can charge the NHS.

The US Trade Representative’s wishlist includes a demand that the UK does not “discriminate” agains US pharmaceuticals and “provide full market access for US products”.

Opponents say this will allow big health corporations bid for, and control, large parts of the health service.

Dr Saleyha Ahsan, A&E Doctor in Bangor in Wales, said: “Brexit poses a huge risk to the NHS, as it opens the UK up to trade deals with other countries who may want to get their hands on our healthcare – particularly America.”

Dr Paul Williams wants a second vote

 

Opponents say US companies have long wanted to destroy the NHS’s world- leading price control and drug approval regime.

The US pharmaceutical trade body PhRMA has argued that mechanisms to control drug prices in other countries – including the UK – are designed to “artificially depress the market value of US innovative medicines”.

Campaigners argue that a US-UK free trade deal threatens the mechanisms which keep down the price of drugs for the NHS.

Dr Paul Williams MP, GP and leading supporter of NHS for a People’s Vote, said: “Now that we know what Donald Trump’s administration will demand from us in any trade deal, it is time for all of us to say that no Brexit deal can be allowed to go ahead without our informed consent.

“No major and life changing surgery – whether political or medical – should be attempted without such permission and in the case of Brexit that means a People’s Vote.”

Woody Johnson says the EU is using scare tactics

 

Tens of thousands of NHS staff and their families will be joining the Put It To The People march demanding a People’s Vote on Brexit on March 23.

A Government spokesman said: “The Government has already committed to protecting public services, including the NHS, in future trade agreements.

“The Government will continue to ensure that decisions about public services are made by UK governments, not our trade partners.”

Meanwhile the US Ambassador to the UK has dimussed claims that a post-Brexit trade deal with the US would lead to chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-pumped beef arriving on supermarket shelves.

Woody Johnson accused the EU for using scare tactics.

He said: “The very idea of ‘chlorinated chicken’ is simply the EU’s way of blocking fair competition from the American poultry industry.

“It’s just a bogeyman used to scare you out of doing a great trade deal with America that will give your businesses a huge competitive advantage,” he added.

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