Nearly three-quarters of the Britons do not want US healthcare companies to be given increased access to the NHS, a new poll has found.
Polling commissioned by anti-privatisation campaigners We Own It found 73pc of respondents did not want US companies to be allowed to offer NHS services, compared to 13pc who do.
The poll comes amidst fears that future trade deals could see private healthcare companies based in the USA or other countries being granted more opportunities to run NHS services, and that such privatisation could be ‘locked in’.
The House of Lords is set to debate the next stage of the trade bill on December 7 where an amendment to protect the NHS from future trade deals will be debated.
The amendment has cross-party support, having been tabled by Labour’s Baroness Thornton, the Liberal Democrats’ Lord Fox, and crossbenchers Lord Patel and Lord Freyberg.
In July, the House of Commons voted to reject a similar amendment, with Conservative MPs all voting against
it.
We Own It campaigner Johnbosco Nwogbo said: “After a year like no other – when we’ve relied so heavily on our NHS – the public is absolutely clear. They want a health service that delivers for the public, in public hands, and with patients, not profit at the heart of it.
“This is why it is absolutely vital that parliament doesn’t pass a trade bill which could see private healthcare companies from the USA and elsewhere running more and more services within our NHS.
“The government has said time and time again that the NHS is ‘off the table’. But we need more than warm words and reassurances. Now we need concrete protections in law. It’s the only way we can ensure that we can have an NHS that is a fully public service – a service that we all love, cherish and rely on.”
Survation, which ran the poll, surveyed 1,009 people aged 18+ living in the UK during September 2nd and 3rd.
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