KEIR Starmer must give a "cast iron guarantee" the NHS will be off the table in any trade deal with US President Donald Trump, the SNP have said.
It comes as the UK Government pushes for trade deal talks with the US as a global economic storm continues to rage in the wake of Trump tariffs.
Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on the UK despite announcing a pause in some of his steeper tariffs on other countries on Wednesday, sparking fears among key Scottish industries such as whisky and salmon.
During his first term Trump said he believed the NHS should be linked to UK/US trade talks, adding that “when you're dealing with trade everything is on the table, so the NHS or anything else, or a lot more than that. But everything will be on the table, absolutely."
Given it has also emerged Health Secretary Wes Streeting has pocketed £372,000 from sources linked to private healthcare since 2015, the SNP are stressing the NHS must be protected in any trade talks.
Seamus Logan, the SNP's health spokesperson at Westminster, said: "Our NHS must never be flogged off to private healthcare interests in any trade deal with the United States – it is imperative that Sir Keir Starmer gives that cast iron guarantee. “It is in all our interests to negotiate a trade deal with the US, but that must not come at any cost and particularly not if it threatens our NHS which is free at the point of use. “Wes Streeting's eagerness to lay down the red carpet to private healthcare is deeply alarming to those of us who believe in our NHS. “Donald Trump has left us in no doubt that he wants to get his hands on our NHS, but the Labour Government must never bow down to his demands. “The SNP will always put Scotland’s NHS first and stand against any move by the Labour Government to open the flood gates to privatisation. Now it’s time the Labour Party made it absolutely plain that Donald Trump and American private healthcare won’t get a sniff of our NHS in any trade deal talks.”
In opposition, Streeting said he would go further than former prime minister Tony Blair ever did on NHS privatisation, declaring he would “hold the door wide open” for the private sector.
Streeting has raked in £58,000 from private healthcare linked sources since the General Election, taking his total haul to £372,000 since 2015 with the Health Secretary previously boasting the UK has “a lot to offer” the US in terms of access to NHS data for medical research.
The Department of Business and Trade has been approached for comment.
