When I return to parliament this September, the second reading of my Bill on Trade Agreements (Exclusion of National Health Service) will take place.
This Private Members Bill seeks to exclude requirements relating to National Health Services procurement, delivery or commissioning from international trade agreements as well as the consent of the House of Commons and the devolved legislatures to international trade agreements insofar as they relate to the NHS in England, Scotland and Wales and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (and for connected purposes).
With President Trump up-ending the global trade order and the ever-creeping privatisation of our health services, this Bill seeks to prevent a Farage style free-for-all and instead protect free-at-the-point-of-need instead, the funding principle of our NHS. As Health and Social Care Spokesperson for the SNP at Westminster, this is a cause close to my heart.
