NEW: Corbyn reveals 451 pages of unredacted govt documents which he says confirms that NHS services would be on the table as part of UK/USA trade negotiations.
Says the documents chart seven rounds of negotiations from 2017 to a few months ago. Says some elements of the discussions have already been concluded.
Corbyn: “Big pharma has ripped off the American people for years. Now these secret reports reveal that they are looking to do the same to us.”
Corbyn: “These uncensored reports leave Boris Johnson’s denials in tatters....This election is now a battle of survival for our NHS.”
Corbyn says docs reveal that US wants “total market access” and that UK officials have assured them that they can have it.
Corbyn: “it seems to me it’s up to @BorisJohnson to explain how he could say all of this was an ‘absolute invention’ as he claimed.”
He then asks NHS workers at the event to help pass around copies of the documents to the media.
He then asks NHS workers at the event to help pass around copies of the documents to the media.
This is quite the moment.
Of course there’s a difference between what the Americans want and what the UK govt is willing to give.
But given these docs were secret and given how desperate the govt is for a USA trade deal, it’s not hard to see how major concessions would be made on the British side.
But given these docs were secret and given how desperate the govt is for a USA trade deal, it’s not hard to see how major concessions would be made on the British side.
Ultimately the asymmetry of power between the USA and the UK would be enormous. We would need a deal, especially if our EU one is barebones as Barnier suggested yesterday. And the Americans would know it.
Ultimately the NHS would remain free at the point of use. But the knowledge of its operation by most members of the public (and journalists) is limited. Easy to see how a trade deal could change the way it works beneath the surface, without anyone noticing before it were too late
The PM tweeted this just an hour ago...
Whatever these documents do or don’t reveal (I’ll be looking through over next few hours) it’s a good thing that for the first time we’re properly examining some of the policy elements of what the govt’s post Brexit world (and inevitable US trade deal) will look like.
