LABOUR NHS MYTHS EXPLODED
WHAT CORBYN CLAIMED:
‘Boris Johnson will work with Donald Trump and corporations to ‘‘fly the good flag of services liberalisation’’. That means NHS privatisation.’
REALITY:
Mr Corbyn is trying to claim that because the NHS is not mentioned in a lengthy section about services liberalisation, British officials are keeping it on the table. But the fact the NHS doesn’t come up in this section – and is mentioned only four times in 451 pages – suggests it isn’t a significant part of the negotiations.
CLAIM:
‘The US and the UK have already finished the discussion on lengthening patents for medicines. Longer patents can mean only one thing – more expensive drugs.’
REALITY:
The documents suggest that the US would like to talk about medicine patents but the documents say the discussion was ‘limited’ and there is nothing to indicate the UK negotiators are engaging on this point. The Tory manifesto has ruled out negoti ating drug prices and services as part of a US trade deal.
CLAIM:
Boris Johnson will allow ‘full access for US products to our National Health Service’.
REALITY:
There is no evidence for this claim. The document suggests the US wants ‘total market access’ to the UK economy – but that’s what it says before every trade negotiation. When the NHS does come up, US trade officials are described as ‘sensitive to the particular sensitivities with the health sector in the UK’ and don’t have a ‘major offensive interest in this space’.
CLAIM:
The documents show trade negotiations ‘at a very advanced stage’.
REALITY:
The opposite is true. The documents suggest trade talks are at a very early stage. The UK is still in the EU customs union, so cannot start formal talks. At best, officials are engaged in a scoping exercise to see what they can talk about after Brexit.
CLAIM:
‘Imagine opening a five-figure bill for your cancer treatment. Imagine paying to give birth. Paying to have a check-up at the GP. That’s what Boris Johnson and Donald Trump want.’
REALITY:
Corbyn’s most outrageous and blatant lie, made in a fundraising email to supporters sent yesterday. Nothing at all in the document backs up the absurd claim that the Tories want to charge for NHS treatment. Jeremy Corbyn is weaponising the NHS after his disastrous day on antiSemitism and his brutal Tuesday night grilling by Andrew Neil.