On 29 October, Boris Johnson will introduce legislation to bypass the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act and force a general election. Jeremy Corbyn has just announced that Labour will support a December election.
And while a general election is desperately needed, Channel 4‘s Dispatches programme on 28 October was a timely reminder of exactly why Johnson cannot be trusted to run the country.
Called Trump’s Plan for the NHS, the episode:
investigates how a trade deal with America might leave the NHS footing a bill for billions, meaning less money for our healthcare.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth summed up the situation:
[the prime minister] wants to sign up to a US trade deal with Trump which would force the NHS to buy pricier drugs from US pharmaceutical companies putting NHS finances at risk.
The big Brexit sell-off
During an election campaign, Johnson will be desperate to appeal to Leave voters. He will incessantly repeat his mantra of ‘getting Brexit done’, presenting parliament as a Remain-obsessed institution desperate to thwart the will of the people. And he will continually emphasise his deal and how great it is – a deal, he will argue, that no-one thought was possible.
The government claims that the NHS will not be part of any Brexit trade negotiations. But the Dispatches investigation revealed secret meetings between “senior civil servants” and US pharmaceutical companies:
THREAD: 1/10 Dispatches has found that secret meetings have taken place between senior civil servants and representatives of US pharmaceutical firms where the price the NHS pays for its drugs has been discussed.
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) October 28, 2019
2/10 A source with knowledge of the trade talks told Dispatches that British trade negotiators have already held six official meetings with their US counterparts to talk about what might be in any trade deal.
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) October 28, 2019
5/10 Dispatches has been told that as well as meeting with the US government, senior British trade officials have held face-to-face meetings with representatives of US drug firms, none of which have been declared.
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) October 28, 2019
As Corbyn tweeted, this is why Labour is so committed to stopping a no-deal Brexit:
This confirms what we know would happen with a Johnson-Trump trade deal. The Tories would put our NHS at the mercy of US pharmaceutical, tech and private healthcare companies.
We will stop a No Deal Brexit and Johnson's sell out Brexit deal. #Dispatchespic.twitter.com/qk4p70a8Bm
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 28, 2019
“A weaker negotiating party”
Dispatches also set out exactly why any negotiations are problematic. Lawyer Tahir Armin stressed that Brexit means the UK is the “weaker negotiating party”. Armin asserted that the US sees:
an opportunity to prise open the market and actually remove some of the barriers that the NHS presents in terms of government regulating of prices.
Dispatches discovers how Donald Trump’s allies and US drug giants want to force the NHS to pay more for US medicines.
Tahir Amin is a British lawyer based in America who is an expert on drug pricing and on previous trade negotiations. pic.twitter.com/RB0t8XAJAd
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) October 28, 2019
Compare and contrast
Corbyn, meanwhile, will not only refuse to sell the NHS off to the highest bidder, he’ll also take action to stop the obscene profits drug companies make from the NHS. At the Labour Party conference, Corbyn announced plans to create a state-owned pharmaceutical company to ensure the NHS isn’t priced out of life-saving drugs.
He said:
We’ll tell the drugs companies that if they want public research funding then they’ll have to make their drugs affordable for all. And we will create a new publicly-owned generic drugs manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to our NHS saving our health service money and saving lives.
Cutting through the lies
We need a general election, but the biggest problem for the left is cutting through the lies Johnson and his government so easily spout. Johnson will literally say anything to get elected, it seems. He will deny the NHS is for sale. He’ll promise money left, right, and centre. And he’ll make promises that he won’t think twice about breaking.
And this is what makes programmes like Dispatches so important. Lives literally depend on cutting through the spin. And all of us need to be countering this on a daily basis, with our families, our friends, and in our communities. Our collective power can and will beat Johnson, get the Tories out, and save our NHS.
Featured image via YouTube – Sky News
