As the election campaign enters its final few days the Conservatives are maintaining a healthy lead in the polls, despite repeated warnings from the opposition that Johnson’s plans for a post-brexit trade deal with the US could cripple the NHS. Trump’s claim he would not be interested in the NHS if it were offered to him “on a silver platter,” during last Tuesday’s press conference at Buckingham Palace, is about as credible as the assurance he would be happy to work with Jeremy Corbyn.

After months of endorsing Johnson as a “Britain Trump” and declaring that “everything is on the table” in Trade talks with the UK, including the NHS, Trump’s U-turn gives cause to be suspicious.

Johnson’s request that Trump downplay the strength of their relationship while he visited the UK for NATO talks was a calculated attempt to deflect attention from the recently leaked UK-US Trade Documents.

From refusing an interview request with Andrew Neil to evading tough questions on environment policy by skipping the climate debate – Johnson has avoided public scrutiny throughout the election campaign. With the political salience of the NHS increasing, it is unsurprising that Johnson is shunning the limelight once again.

According to IPSOS Mori the NHS has just surpassed Brexit as the most important issue for voters this election. However, the legal action demanding that the full content of the UK-US trade documents is not due until polling day, by which time it will be too late for the outcome of the election to be altered.

For months, Boris Johnson has been assuring the public that the NHS is not for sale, but the leaked UK-US trade documents reveal that the UK’s health service has remained on the table throughout negotiations. 

Between 2018-2019 the NHS spent £9.2bn, or 7.3%, of its budget on privatised services a figure which could easily rise after Brexit. The leaked trade documents confirm the US’s intention to gain full market access for US products in the UK meaning pharmaceutical companies will be trying to charge the NHS more money for drugs. 

There is also a danger that the extension of US patents in UK markets could prevent domestic companies from making cheaper alternatives to US products which cost an average of twice as much per person.

Furthermore, our personal data could be up for grabs: the NHS holds the single largest patient data set in existence and the US are demanding that the UK refrains from restricting cross-border data flows. In the hands of US tech-giants in the healthcare sector, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Oracle and Salesforce, patient data could be used to develop medical products which are then sold back to the NHS at extortionate rates.

Trump may claim that he would be able to work with any leader, but it is only Johnson who is keeping open the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, conducive to giving US companies access to the UK’s health service. The US has stated its preference for a No-Deal Brexit, which will leave “all to play for” in a situation where the UK is isolated from the EU, outside the customs union and single market, with a weakened economy.

It is unclear what the UK may have to cede to the US in such circumstances, but US trade representatives have been pushing for food labelling systems to be scrapped and want to slash the UK’s food safety standards. This concession could lead to UK markets being flooded with products which are currently banned under EU law such as chlorine treated chicken and hormone impregnated beef.

Lowering food-standards could increase the incidence of food-born illnesses which Sustain estimates will cost £1bn per year to the UK economy and NHS.

Voters have a right to know that Conservative plans for a post-Brexit trade deal with the US could open the door to spiralling drug prices, lower food standards and environmental deregulation, all of which will take a toll on the strained health service. 

Rather than burdening the NHS further, surely the UK’s new government should reverse the punitive austerity measures, which have created a staffing shortfall and driven up waiting times – perhaps by reversing funding cuts for student nurses and bringing pay rises in line with inflation. 

A trade deal with the US may well seem an attractive option to any Prime Minister who takes Britain out of the European Union, but it would be a betrayal of the British public if the NHS were sold out in the process.