PM defends Virgin’s £2bn of contracts in the NHS
BREXIT TALKS are likely to result in a successful UK-EU withdrawal deal, Downing Street insisted despite a Cabinet Minister’s suggestion that there was a “60-40” probability of negotiations collapsing with no agreement.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox had claimed the UK was set to crash out of the EU without a Brexit deal due to the “intransigence” of the Brussels machine.
The suggestion was rejected by the European Commission, which said its negotiators were working “day and night, 24/7, for a deal”, while Theresa May’s official spokesman stressed a deal was “the most likely outcome”.
But the spokesman did pointedly repeat Mrs May’s earlier warning that the UK’s European partners should not let ideology or bureaucracy get in the way of a “pragmatic and practical” outcome.
Asked about Dr Fox’s comments, he said: “We continue to believe that a deal is the most likely outcome, because reaching a good deal is not only in the interests of the UK, it is in the interests of the EU and its 27 members.
“But the Trade Secretary is right to say there is a risk of the negotiations not succeeding and the Government has to prepare for all eventualities.”
The spokesman said the Brexit white paper published last month following the Cabinet summit at Chequers was recognised by Brussels as “a significant move”.
“Following the publication of the white paper, we are now in a serious conversation across a broad range of issues with the EU,” he said.
“They (the Commission) recognise that the white paper represents a significant move by the UK and now they need to respond”.
In Brussels, a European Commission spokeswoman also played down Dr Fox’s suggestions, telling a press briefing: “We are working constructively, day and night, to reach a deal with the United Kingdom and I think this is also reflected in the fact that the next negotiation round is scheduled for the 16th and 17th of August.
“An agenda will be published in due course and the chief negotiator (Michel Barnier) is, as he has always been by the way, based on the negotiating position agreed by the 27 member states and that’s reflected in the European Commission guidelines.
“It will be at official level but it will be followed very soon at a political level because, as you know, we are working day and night, 24/7, for a deal.”
The comments came days after Mrs May held private talks with Emmanuel Macron at the French President’s Mediterranean holiday retreat of Fort Bregancon.
Number 10 remained tightlipped on the meeting but played down suggestions that the UK was trying to bypass Mr Barnier by seeking direct contacts with Ministers of the 27 remaining member states.
Talks were taking place with the European Commission and had seen “very active engagement” from Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, Mrs May’s spokesman said.
There had also been “conversations” at ministerial and prime ministerial level with the EU27 nations.
But Solicitor General Robert Buckland indicated that the Government believes the leaders of the 27 EU states will come to play a more significant role as the deadline for a deal approaches in the autumn.
“The reality is that, as we get close to the wire, the views of the member states will become more important,” he told BBC Radio 4’s
But Number 10 distanced itself from Mr Buckland’s suggestion that the House of Commons’ Christmas break may have to be cut short if negotiations drag on beyond the target of October, saying Brexit legislation will be “debated by MPs in the usual way”. THERESA MAY is clear that “the NHS is not for sale”, her official spokesman said after analysis showed Virgin had been awarded almost £2bn worth of health service contracts over the last five years.
reported that the company and its subsidiaries hold at least 400 contracts across the public sector – from healthcare in prisons to school immunisation programmes.
According to the newspaper, NHS services contracted out include: sexual health services in the north-east of England, some GP surgeries in Essex, healthcare in several low-category prisons and a contract with NHS England to give school flu jabs in Devon.
Commenting on the analysis, Dr Robert Harwood, chairman of the British Medical Association’s consultants committee, said: “We firmly believe that the NHS should be publicly funded and publicly provided, and that ultimately the introduction of a competitive procurement framework has been, and will continue to be, detrimental to the health service.
“Patient care simply cannot take second place to finances nor damaging legislation. At a time when the NHS is facing huge financial pressure, it is vital that taxpayers’ money is used to support overstretched NHS services to provide high-quality, safe care to patients, not to fund multi-million-pound private contracts.”
But Mrs May’s spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister has said many times in the chamber, the NHS is not for sale and it never will be.
“As spending on the NHS has increased, private sector spending remains proportionately low and we remain clear that the NHS will remain free at the point of use both now and in the future.
“Any decisions about use of the private sector are taken locally by local doctors who know their patients best.”