NHS and the Trade Bill

Many constituents have contacted me recently with concerns about the NHS and international trade.

Like you, I cherish our National Health Service and its guiding principles. We celebrated the 72nd birthday of our incredible national health service recently and I can assure you that my parliamentary colleagues and I have a huge appreciation for all those who have worked so hard to get us through this health crisis. The principles of our NHS are ones that I stand by and will protect: that it is universal and free at the point of need. The Government has been repeatedly clear that our NHS will never be on the table in any trade agreements, a position I fully support.

In regards to the Trade Bill and New Clause 12, I do not believe New Clause 12 would be necessary, however laudable the aims behind it. There are several reasons for this. The Trade Bill is a continuity Bill, and it cannot be used to implement new free trade agreements with countries such as the US. Rather, the Trade Bill is designed to enable the free trade agreements that the EU had signed with third countries before the UK exited to transition. I want to assure you that our NHS is already protected by specific carve outs, exceptions and reservations in these trade agreements. I know that my Ministerial colleagues have no intention of lowering standards in transitioned trade agreements – the very purpose of these agreements is to replicate as close as possible the effects of existing commitments in EU agreements. Indeed, I can reassure you that none of the 20 continuity agreements signed have resulted in standards being lowered.

In future trade agreements the Government has made a clear and absolute commitment that the NHS will not be on the table. I note Ministers have made clear they will ensure rigorous protections are included for the NHS in all trade agreements to which the UK is party, whether transitioned from an EU context or as a result of future negotiations.

Rigorous checks and balances on the Government’s power to negotiate and ratify new agreements also already exist, including through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Moreover, trade agreements cannot by themselves make changes to our domestic law. Any legislative changes required as a result of trade agreements would be subject to the separate scrutiny and approval of Parliament in the usual ways.

I hope this response has provided some reassurance that the UK will continue to ensure that the NHS is protected in all trade agreements it is party to, whether transitioned from an EU context or as a result of new negotiations.

Thanks again to all those who took the time to write to me about this.