Gething calls on Pm to reject privatisation of NHs

WELSH Health Secretary Vaughan Gething has urged Prime Minister Theresa May not to use the NHS as a “bargaining chip” in any post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.

Mr Gething, in a letter to Mrs May, said he was “dismayed” that she refused to guarantee that the NHS would be protected from US business interests when she spoke in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister was warned a “key objective” for Washington would be gaining access to the health service, which is being opened up to more private firms.

But Mrs May said it was too early to judge what “requirements” the US would have in those post-Brexit trade talks.

Her response prompted Mr Gething to write a letter to the PM, which states: “Offering the NHS as a bargaining chip in the year that we celebrate the 70th year since it was created could not be more inflammatory and disrespectful to hardworking NHS staff.

“I would ask you to reconsider your position and provide an absolute guarantee on the public record that the UK Government will not make the NHS available for privatisation or replace it with a private insurance scheme as part of a US trade deal.”

Amid the backlash, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman later insisted Mrs May had made clear “the NHS is not for sale and it never will be” in previous comments made in February last year.