Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour has obtained official documents showing that the US is demanding that the NHS will be “on the table” in talks on a post-Brexit trade deal.
The Labour leader said the uncensored papers gave the lie to Boris Johnson’s claims that the NHS would not be part of any trade talks.
“The uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson’s denials in absolute tatters,” he told a news conference in London.
BREAKING: @jeremycorbyn makes public unredacted documents which show Boris Johnson's government is preparing to sell our NHS. #NotForSale
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) November 27, 2019
“We have now got evidence that under Boris Johnson the NHS is on the table and will be up for sale.
“He tried to cover it up in a secret agenda and today it has been exposed.”
Mr Corbyn said the 451 pages of documents covered six rounds of talks from July 2017 to “just a few months ago”.
"These uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson's denials in tatters."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 27, 2019
Jeremy Corbyn says he has documents which "confirm" under Boris Johnson "the NHS is on the table and will be up for sale" to the US.
Live updates #GeneralElection2019 #GE201: https://t.co/qxJxlXCSjt pic.twitter.com/tLQFqRr5pD
He said the meetings took place in Washington and London.
“We are talking here about secret talks for a deal with Donald Trump after Brexit,” he said.
BREAKING: Boris Johnson has put the NHS up for sale
Here is the evidence. pic.twitter.com/iOqBFdfIQH
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) November 27, 2019
On medicine pricing, he said discussions had already been concluded between the two sides on lengthening patents.
“Longer patents can only mean one thing – more expensive drugs. Lives will be put at risk as a result of this,” he said.
The Labour leader was asked again to apologise to the Jewish community for anti-Semitic incidents in the party.
Before he answered, shadow international development secretary Barry Gardiner, who was sat next to Mr Corbyn, said to the journalist who asked the question: “Do you have a question about the issue we are actually discussing today or was that just an opportune moment to get a dig in about something else?”
Mr Corbyn later said: “I have made it very clear anti-Semitism is completely wrong in our society, our party did make it clear when I was elected leader, and after, that anti-Semitism was unacceptable in any form in our party or our society.
“And did indeed offer its sympathies and apologies to those that had suffered.”
Mr Corbyn said a Government with him in charge would be “the most anti-racist government you’ve ever seen”, adding: “Because that is what I’ve spent my whole life doing – fighting against racism – and I will die fighting against racism.”
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