Labour's Shadow Health Secretary says that US firms WILL be able to bid for NHS contracts

27 November 2019, 21:19

Labour's Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth told Iain Dale that despite what Boris Johnson says US firms WILL be able to bid for NHS contracts.

Jonathan Ashworth told Iain Dale that 'if you have a trade deal with the US, that level of liberalisation and marketisation in the NHS will be part of that trade deal bassline'.

Iain Dale challenged the Labour Shadow Cabinet minister saying that Boris Johnson had 'said that it absolutely won't be' with regards to the NHS being on the table in a trade deal.

But Jonathan Ashworth said that unless a 'schedule' is published, then the Prime Minister has only given a 'rhetorical commitment' without going into the specifics and that he needs to give a firm commitment instead.

Iain Dale also challenged the Labour candidate on the 451 page document, which Jeremy Corbyn was giving out to people today, on how many times the NHS was mentioned. Iain reminded him that the NHS was only 'mentioned 4 times'.