By Ben Kerrigan
Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised after calling a press conference aimed at exposing uncensored official documents confirming plans for the Tories to sell the NHS in trade talks with the USA.
What was expected to be a damning revelation was soon exposed as outdated provisional plans made under Theresa May’s government. The labour leader called a press conference in Westminster revealing to the press what appeared to be leaked government papers detailing six rounds of trade talks in Washington and London running from July 2017 to a few months ago.
He told the gathered media that the content of the 451-page paper left “in tatters” prime minister Boris Johnson’s denial that the NHS is on the table in trade talks. And he declared: “This election is now a fight for the survival of our National Health Service as a public service free for all at the point of need.
”So for the want of any doubt, let me give this reassurance: Labour will never ever treat our NHS as a bargaining chip in trade talks with anybody. We will never let Donald Trump get his hands on our NHS. Because our NHS is not for sale. The Labour Party said that the unredacted documents “show Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to sell our NHS”.
SECRET AGENDA
He accused the prime minister of trying to cover up the secret agenda, which he said ”has today been exposed”. The memos record discussions between July 2017 and July 2019, under Theresa May’s government before Johnson came in power. But the big loophole in Corbyn’s stunt today is that Johnson’s government could easily argue that he has no intentions of implementing a discussion which took place under Theresa May’s government.
Some critics will claim that Trump has a bigger hold of Johnson than he did of May, especially as the pair seem to have a known good relationship. It still may not provide concrete proof that the prime minister intends to sell the NHS to the U.S.
Mr Johnson is on record stating that there “no circumstances whatsoever” in which a Conservative government would put the NHS on the table in trade talks with the U.S. He will have to justify a U turn if he were to consider one.