FactWatch: Are Jeremy Corbyn's claims of NHS being 'on the table' under Boris Johnson true?
Yesterday Jeremy Corbyn released minutes of meetings between UK and US negotiators claiming they confirmed the NHS is “on the table” in trade talks.
Analysis
The documents show negotiators discussing a range of issues, most are not linked to healthcare.
They show drug patents are US negotiating objectives in trade talks. The US has long argued other countries pay too little for pharmaceuticals and was likely to seek to address this in a trade agreement.
Depending on what the Government agrees to in a trade deal, it is possible that drug prices for the NHS could increase as a result. But it is not clear from these documents what the UK’s response to this US stance has been.
Verdict
These documents show that drug patents are a US negotiating objective in trade talks.
But they don’t show us what the UK has agreed.
Full Fact is the UK’s independent factchecking organisation. For sources and more factchecks go to fullfact.org
