Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure the privatisation of NHS services is excluded from future trade agreements.

As we set out in the negotiating objectives for a Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America, published on 2nd March 2020, the NHS will not be on the table. The price the NHS pays for drugs will not be on the table. The services the NHS provides will not be on the table.

The United Kingdom’s public services, including the NHS, are already protected by specific exclusions, exceptions and reservations in the trade agreements to which we are a party, and HM Government will continue to make sure that the same rigorous protections are included in future trade agreements.