NHS is ‘off the table’ claim not believable

According to the pro-public ownership campaign group We Own It, almost half of Britons do not believe Boris Johnson’s claim that NHS is ‘off the table’ in trade deals.

A poll, carried out by Survation, found that 75 per cent want specific protections for the NHS to be written into law in the Trade Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Lords on 8 September.

This week has seen the opening of the fourth round of trade talks between the UK and US, which has made no secret of its hopes of securing access for American companies to NHS markets. Last year, leaked documents revealed that US negotiators had made clear their desire for ‘total market access’ in any deal with the UK.

Despite this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has consistently insisted that the NHS is ‘off the table’ in negotiation talks. We Own It claims that Johnson has failed to convince many voters that he will rotect the health service. In fact, 47 per cent of those questioned said they did not believe the Prime Minister’s assurance that the NHS was ‘off the table’, up nine percentage points since a similar poll in July. By contrast, just  30 per cent who were polled did believe him.

Additionally, 75 per cent said there should be specific protections for the NHS in the Trade Bill, against just 12 per cent who said there should not.

Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said: “At a time when we’re relying on our health service more than ever before, it’s beyond shocking that the government would seek to pass legislation that could see our NHS be carved up and sold off. As this poll shows, the public don’t buy Boris Johnson’s reassurances, and three in four of us want to see concrete protections for our NHS.

“It’s time that the NHS being ‘off the table’ is enshrined into law. It’s absolutely vital that both the House of Lords and the House of Commons urgently amend the Trade Bill to protect our precious NHS. This is our last chance to ensure that our NHS is protected from the American healthcare industry.”

The poll came as a petition urging peers to insert clauses to protect the NHS into the bill reached 290,000 signatures.