Posted on 2019-09-25 | 02:05

Dear Roger,

Thank you for your letter of 9th September 2019 to the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister, regarding correspondence from your constituents relating to the possible impact on the NHS of a future trade agreement with the United States. This correspondence has been passed to the Department for International Trade (DIT) and I am providing a response as this matter falls within my portfolio.

The Government has been consistently clear about its commitment to the guiding principles of the NHS – that it is universal and free at the point of need. Our position is definitive: the NHS is not, and never will be, for sale to the private sector, whether overseas or domestic. The Government will ensure no trade agreements will ever be able to alter these fundamental facts.

Trade is vital for the NHS, which relies heavily on vital goods and services that come wholly, or in part, from suppliers based overseas. Trade enables the NHS to buy the best possible medicines and medical devices that industry – here and overseas – has to offer. That is in the best interests of NHS patients. Additionally, successive Governments have enabled some independent sector providers to provide selected care to NHS patients – and they are permitted to do so, provided they meet UK requirements. Trade deals will not force the NHS to provide preferential access to independent sector providers or to foreign companies.

The UK has a well-established relationship with the US as our largest single bilateral trading partner. The US accounts for nearly a fifth of all UK exports, worth over £100 billion a year and is the single biggest source of inward investment into the UK. Our economic prosperity is enhanced by the depth of our trade, financial, cultural and investment links with the US. Every day over a million Americans go to work for British companies and over a million Britons work for US companies.
Negotiating an ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) with the US that maintains our high standards for businesses, workers and consumers is a priority. DIT has completed its public consultation on potential future FTA negotiations with the US. We have analysed all consultation responses and a ‘summary of responses’ has been published on GOV.UK: http://bit.ly/2YU3pnm.

On the delivery of public services, this is safeguarded in the trade in services aspects of all FTAs the UK is party to. In the EU’s FTAs, the UK’s public services are protected by specific exceptions and reservations. As we leave the EU, the UK will continue to ensure that public services – including the NHS – are protected in all trade agreements it is party to, whether transitioned from an EU context or as a result of new negotiations. Decisions on how to run public services, including the NHS, will always remain for the UK Governments, including the Devolved Administrations, and not our trade partners.
This position was reiterated in the Government’s response to a recent petition to Parliament which called for the NHS to be excluded from any future trade agreements. Your constituents can find the Government’s response, watch the subsequent debate on 22nd July and read the
transcript of the debate and associated research paper on the UK Government and Parliament Petitions website: http://bit.ly/30coh9K. As the Prime Minister said on 25th July in the House of Commons, "…under no circumstances will we agree to any free trade deal that puts the NHS on the table. It is not for sale".

I hope this information is helpful and of reassurance to your constituents.