Corbyn in challenge to Trump that any trade deal must not see hike in NHS medicine costs
JEREMY Corbyn has welcomed US President Donald Trump to Britain with a letter demanding he will not try to push medicine prices up through a post-Brexit trade deal.
To mark Mr Trump’s arrival in London for the start of the Nato summit, Mr Corbyn has written to him asking for reassurances that his administration will not try to include selling higher-priced US drugs to the NHS on its trade wish list.
Last week, the Labour Party leader called a press conference at which he brandished an unredacted report that gave details of meetings between US and UK officials, where they discussed the stipulations of a free trade deal between the two nations after Britain leaves the European Union.
The document included confirmation of a round of meetings “dedicated solely to patents and pharmaceuticals”, where officials explained how drugs were approved for use on the NHS and described a US request for “total market access” to UK public services — a form of privatisation — as a “baseline” for an agreement.
In his letter, Mr Corbyn told the president he wanted “assurances” over the “prices paid to US drugs companies as a consequence of any such UK trade deal with the US”.
Labour has warned throughout the election campaign that allowing US medical companies to supply drugs to the NHS would push up the price of medicines.
Mr Corbyn wrote: “As you will know, the potential impact of any future UK-US trade agreement on our National Health Service and other vital public services is of profound concern to the British public. A critical issue in this context is the cost of drugs to our NHS.
“The cost of patented drugs in the US is approximately 2.5 times higher than in the UK, and the price of the top 20 medicines is 4.8 times higher than in the UK.
“Any increase in the NHS drugs bill would be an unacceptable outcome of US-UK trade negotiations.
“Yet you have given a number of clear and worrying indications that this is exactly what you hope to achieve.”