The hashtag #CorbynWasRight has been trending on Twitter after an amendment to protect the NHS from foreign control was voted down in parliament.
Yesterday the former Labour leader repeated warnings that the NHS could be “negotiated away, chopped up and sold off behind closed doors” ahead of a crucial vote that would put “red lines in the negotiations” rather than more “warm words and nice rhetoric”.
During the 2019 election, Jeremy Corbyn said documents – which have been put under scrutiny by Dominic Raab – proved the Conservatives were planning to include the NHS in a future trade agreement with the US – something denied by the government.
But suspicions have been raised that he could have been right all along following the House of Commons vote last night.
MPs voted the amendment down by 340 votes to 251, rejecting other key measures to protect the NHS, including:
- Ensuring the ability to provide a “comprehensive and publicly funded health service free at the point of delivery” was not compromised by any future trade deal
- Protecting hard-working NHS staff from having their wages or rights slashed by any future trade deal
- Protecting the quality and safety of health and care services
- Regulating the control and pricing of medicines
- Protecting patient data from being sold off
- Protecting the NHS from so-called investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) – clauses which allow foreign investors to sue national governments for any measures which harm their profits.
Early reaction this morning seems to indicate Corbyn could have been vindicated:
So many people owe @JeremyCorbyn an apology.#CorbynWasRight
— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) July 21, 2020
Slow hand clap to those who gave the Tories an 80 seat majority.
— Julie Harrington Ex Labour #BLM #MMT (@celtjules66) July 21, 2020
The NHS is now unprotected in trade deals, just like @jeremycorbyn warned.
2/3 of Bankruptcies in the US are directly linked to healthcare bills.#CorbynWasRight https://t.co/L6uMPCBlZW
Everyone going out to clap with pots and pans tonight? If you voted anything but Labour last December you need to own this! #corbynwasright https://t.co/xBLPENSuOw
— Chick Norris ❤✊ (@ChickNorris75) July 21, 2020
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