Leaked NHS trade talk documents are accurate but interpreted 'disgracefully', Liam Fox says

Jacob Jarvis3 December 2019
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Leaked minutes detailing UK-US trade talks which Labour claims showed the NHS is "up for sale" were legitimate but interpreted incorrectly, international trade secretary Liam Fox has said.

Jeremy Corbyn shared 451 pages detailing meetings about UK-US trade last week and insisted they showed the service would be part of post-Brexit discussions under a Tory Government.

The Conservatives have frequently denied it would do so, stating the NHS would be off limit for discussions, with cabinet ministers rejecting the idea of privatising the institution.

Asked about the validity of the documents, Dr Fox told Sky: "The documents, as far as I know, will be genuine minutes, I've no reason to presume that they're not."

Jeremy Corbyn shared the 451-pages of documents
PA

However, he said he felt the way that had been read and the message shared by Labour was incorrect, stating they were being used in the "most disgraceful way by Jeremy Corbyn".

"Either Jeremy Corbyn understands this and is being purposefully misleading or he doesn't understand it, in which case he's not fit to be prime minister," he said.

Speaking further on the documents' validity, he added: "Somebody who wants to lead the country who leaks confidential documents has a question mark over their ethics."

It comes as Mr Corbyn wrote to President Trump telling him to not try to push up medicine prices through a potential post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and US.

The Labour leader wrote to the president asking for reassurances that his administration will not try to include selling higher-priced US drugs to the NHS on its trade wish list, in a letter as Mr Trump visits England for a Nato summit.

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