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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
James Morris

Tory leadership race: Candidates tell Donald Trump 'NHS is not for sale' in US-UK trade deal talks

Contenders in the race for the Tory leadership have distanced themselves from Donald Trump's call for the NHS to be covered by a new UK-US trade deal after Brexit.

The US president said "everything" - including the health service - will be "on the table" in negotiations.

But a slew of Tory leadership candidates condemned the comments on Tuesday.

Current health secretary Matt Hancock stressed "the NHS isn't on the table" and "never will be" under him.

Demonstrators pose with a 'take your hands off our NHS' banner in front of a giant balloon depicting Mr Trump as an orange baby in Parliament Square on Tuesday (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images)

Dominic Raab said the NHS "is not for sale" and would not be if he was in Number 10.

Sam Gyimah also hit back at Mr Trump's suggestion, saying the NHS "should not be used as a bargaining chip" in the talks.

And international development secretary Rory Stewart said he would not be "offering up" the NHS in any trade deal.

Negotiations on a future trade deal after Brexit will be carried out under Theresa May's successor and the US will be keen for all areas of the British economy to be covered.

Donald Trump says US 'committed to phenomenal trade deal' with UK after Brexit

At a joint press conference with the Prime Minister on the second day of his UK state visit, Mr Trump had said: "When you're dealing in trade everything is on the table so NHS or anything else, a lot more than that, but everything will be on the table, absolutely."

But Mrs May said "the point in making trade deals is of course that both sides negotiate and come to an agreement about what should or should not be in that trade deal for the future".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, claimed "Tory leadership contenders" and Nigel Farage were "lining up" a US trade agreement as part of their plans for a no-deal Brexit.

"They all need to understand: our NHS is not for sale," he said.

And British Medical Association council chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: "We have an unequivocal message for the next Conservative leader and future Prime Minister: profit should never take priority over the protection of the health service and the healthcare of citizens."

Addtional reporting by Press Association.

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