The labour Party has released 451 pages of official documents that undermine Boris Johnson’s claim that healthcare is “not on the table” in UK and US trade talks. The documents reveal that the two countries have repeatedly discussed dismantling protections that keep NHS drug prices down.
Between July 2017 and July 2019 senior UK and US trade officials discussed the NHS, drug patents, the pharmaceutical industry, health insurance and medical devices as part of the post-Brexit trade deal. Experts have warned the documents show the US wants the UK to rip up the way it sets drug prices – potentially leading to billions of pounds a year in added costs for the NHS.
The documents reveal that the US prefers a hard or no-deal Brexit scenario, and that US officials suggested that progressing free-trade talks between the nations could aid Donald Trump in his bid for presidential re-election in 2020.
Full story in The Guardian, 27 November 2019
