Jeremy Corbyn has sensationally revealed unredacted government documents which confirm the NHS is up for sale as part of trade talks with the US.
Speaking at a conference this morning the Labour leader revealed 451 pages of sensitive documents that chart seven rounds of negotiations from 2017 to a few months ago.
According to the papers some elements of the discussions have already been concluded, while others are at advanced stages.
Corbyn says the new evidence “leaves Boris Johnson’s denials in absolute tatters” and disproves the Prime Minister’s argument that Labour’s claim about the threat to NHS is an ‘invention’.
He added that “this election is now a battle of survival for our NHS”, with big pharma seemingly ready to pounce on the UK’s national health body.
Wonderfully brutal from Corbyn. Tories are in a huge hole now and Johnson is famously bad at digging himself out of one #NHS #GE2019 https://t.co/TT5HiBabr4 pic.twitter.com/OC3EILjlmk
— Gully Burrows (@gully_burrows) November 27, 2019
Handed out by doctors and nurses
The documents were handed out by NHS doctors and nurses today at the dramatic press conference, which was dubbed “Revealed the Truth About our NHS” by the party.
The exact content of the documents is still emerging, but Mr Corbyn said they related to key issues including drug prices – which are often far higher in the US.
Corbyn said: “Big pharma has ripped off the American people for years. Now these secret reports reveal that they are looking to do the same to us.”
He added:
“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.”
Nurses quiz Boris
The revelations come as Boris Johnson faced probing questions from nurses on a visit to the West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance.
The Prime Minister met patients and nurses as he toured the wards but was challenged on his General Election campaign pledges as he drank tea with staff on a medical ward.
One student nurse told the PM how she was “struggling” financially because of tuition fees and asked him about his plans to bring back the nursing bursary.
Mr Johnson said: “We’re definitely bringing back the bursary … but I’ll have to check that (on tuition fees).”
50,000 new nurses
Another asked him about his commitment to deliver 50,000 new nurses, saying: “Where are these people going to come from?”
The PM replied: “I think we should have a programme of making sure that people who have grown up in this country have a career in nursing … we’ve also got to make sure that we are open to people from around the world, and we can do that and we’re going to have an immigration system that is points-based.”
Earlier on his tour of the ward, Mr Johnson told staff that his father Stanley was born in Penzance, but when asked where, he replied: “I presume he was born in a hospital … I’ll have to find out.”
One patient, Andrew Hall, urged the Prime Minister: “Get us out of Europe and watch out for John McDonnell … he’s a sneaky one.”
He later discussed Brexit and travel times to hospitals in Cornwall with another patient receiving dialysis.
More to follow