No to a UK-US Pharma Deal

When a foreign president’s demands are prioritised over British patients’ safety, something has gone very wrong.

But it what is happening, according to reports that reveal a UK‑US pharma deal could siphon £45bn of NHS funding away from essential services and onto branded medicines instead. The impact of this could be huge. Researchers from the University of York, the University of Liverpool, and New Zealand’s Christchurch hospital, found that a loss of funding on this scale could result in over 200,000 excess deaths by 2036.

As Helen Morgan, our health spokesperson, has rightly said, it is outrageous that the government refuses to publish its own impact review. Commercial sensitivity is no excuse for evading public accountability. People deserve to know the truth about a decision that could shape the quality of care they receive.

Here in West Berkshire, we don’t need abstract numbers to understand the consequences. We see them every day in the pressures facing the Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust. Staff are working under impossible pressure, patients are waiting longer and travelling further, too many are being treated in corridors, and the hospital itself is carrying an ever-growing maintenance bill it can't afford to fix.

Every pound diverted away from frontline care is a pound that could be used to fund more beds, more nurses or better equipment. Instead, the Government seems more interested in gambling with our health system to placate a foreign president.

As Liberal Democrats, we believe decisions about our NHS must be made by the British people, not carved up in secret trade negotiations. West Berkshire residents deserve transparency, honesty, and leadership, not backroom deals that put profit before patients.

We cannot afford to sit by while our NHS is picked apart. That is why I’m calling on the government to publish the full review, halt any measures that threaten NHS funding, and commit to protecting our local services.

We must defend our NHS with everything we have and stand up to those who would weaken it.