No.10 insists NHS ‘not for sale’ after May comes under fire

THE NHS will be protected under any future trade deal with the US, Downing Street has insisted after Theresa May came under fire over the issue.

The Prime Minister raised fears the NHS is “for sale” after refusing to rule out allowing US firms to compete for health service contracts after Brexit.

Critics accused Mrs May of giving Donald Trump the “green light to get his hands on” the NHS after she sidestepped calls to exclude it from trade talks when challenged at Prime Minister’s Questions.

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mrs May had made clear that “the NHS is not for sale and it never will be” in February 2017.

The spokesman added: “Any trade deal ensures decisions about public services continue to be made by UK governments, not by our trade partners. The UK’s public health sector is protected by specific exceptions and reservations in all EU trade arrangements and, as we leave the EU, the UK will continue to ensure that rigorous protections for the NHS are included in all trade agreements it is party to.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said her response had been “pathetic”.

Mr Trump described the NHS as “going broke and not working” in a tweet on Monday. But Mrs May failed to raise the US President’s attack on the health service when they spoke by telephone on Tuesday.

During PMQs, Sir Vince Cable asked Mrs May to confirm that in her conversations with Mr Trump she had made it “absolutely clear” the “NHS is not for sale”.

Mrs May replied: “We are starting the discussions with the American administration, first of all looking at what we can do to increase trade between the US and the United Kingdom.”