Julian Critchley shares this latest news on behalf of Island Labour. Ed
Today, in a press conference with Theresa May, Donald Trump confirmed that in any post-Brexit trade deal, he would expect to see the NHS ‘on the table’, which many view as leading to its privatisation.
This is precisely the shocking development which the Labour Party has been warning about for years now, as the Conservative Government has been pressing ahead with its twin track policy of running down the NHS by underfunding it, and privatising it piecemeal.
Sell-off disastrous for Island
The Island Labour Party understands just how disastrous such a sell-off would be for Islanders who rely on already over-stretched NHS services, having seen services closed on the Island and moved to the mainland already.
Island Labour Chair, Julian Critchley, said
“Bob Seely’s been very vocal on social media about this ill-advised visit by Trump. He insists that the racist, misogynistic president should be “respected”. I think what all Islanders would now like to hear is whether Bob’s “respect” extends to Trump’s plans to dismantle our NHS for the benefit of US companies.”
Expect MP to publicly insist NHS not up for sale
He went on to say,
“On each occasion during the past two years, whenever Island Labour have correctly warned about the cutting of funding and services to the NHS on the Island, Bob has told people this was “scaremongering”. When we warned that his government’s plan was to break up and privatise the NHS, he insisted this was untrue.
“Yet here we have this odious president, standing next to a Tory Prime Minister, and casually insisting that the NHS will indeed be part of any future deal between his government and the Tories.
“Clearly Bob has either been kept out of the loop and lied to by his own government, or he has been misleading Islanders with false reassurances.
“In either case, we now expect Bob to publicly insist that the NHS is not up for sale to Trump, or anyone else. It belongs to all of us, and woe betide any Tory government which tries to take it away from the British people.”
Update 5 June 2019
As Donald Trump did not directly use the word privatisation in connection with the NHS, this word has now been changed in the article and replaced with ‘on the table’, which many view as leading to its privatisation
Image: gageskidmore under CC BY 2.0
