Amendment on sale of NHS to foreign powers voted down

JenniferEccles

Oh dear. Is this daft rumour still doing the rounds?

Does anyone honestly still believe that the wicked Tories are selling the NHS to Donald Trump?

I thought this stupid rumour had long since been put to bed.

I really don't understand what you mean by "daft rumour". It's not a rumour, daft or not. It's happening. I really don't understand how anybody can be daft enough not to see it.

JenniferEccles What do you mean when you refer to a "daft rumour"?

The Portsmouth News printed this report re the amendment:

"The vote was split across party lines, with no Conservative MPs voting for the amendment to protect the NHS from outside control in any future trade deals.

"The "nos" were made up almost entirely of Conservative MPs, with one Independent also voting the amendment down.

"All Labour MPs present voted in favour of the amendment, along with members of other political parties like the SNP and Liberal Democrats.

"As well as protecting the NHS from foreign control in any trade deal, the amendment also proposed protecting other elements of the NHS. This included:

"Ensuring that the ability to provide a “comprehensive and publicly funded health service free at the point of delivery” was not jeopardised by any trade deal

"Protecting the quality and safety of health and care services

"Regulating pricing and control of medicines

"Protecting NHS staff from having their employment terms changed, including their rights at work or pay

"Protecting patients from having their data sold off

"Protecting the NHS from investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) clauses which would allow foreign investors to sue governments for any measures that harm their profits"

If there is no chance of any of the above happening, why would the Conservatives not vote for the amendment?

The Access Now website says this about ISDS clauses (which apparently the Australian government has refused to be subject to):

"Through ISDS, foreign investors are empowered to sue governments if changes in law affect their profits — or at least, the profits they “expected” — on a particular project. By giving companies equal standing with governments, ISDS empowers corporations to directly enforce a trade agreement, undermining the balance of power between the state and the private sector. While states are the ones negotiating and ratifying a treaty, through ISDS, companies have the ability to interpret and enforce it.

"Disputes under ISDS take place in secretive tribunals with no institutional independence, enabling corporations to skirt domestic courts. Specifically, most of the disputes brought under ISDS are heard in the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) or the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Both international arbitration bodies dedicated to only hearing ISDS complaints operate with similar rules and procedures which exclude the public and do not allow human rights or consumer advocates to intervene. Disputes are heard and interpreted by three private sector attorneys designated as arbitrators. The nomination of arbitrators by both parties involved in a claim result in a lack independence and impartiality as arbitrators tend to focus more on pleasing the nominating parties in order to ensure that they are re-appointed in future cases. This situation has lead to a growth in the number of challenges to arbitrators, as they have been often perceived as “biased or predisposed.”

Oh dear. Is this daft rumour still doing the rounds?

Does anyone honestly still believe that the wicked Tories are selling the NHS to Donald Trump?

I thought this stupid rumour had long since been put to bed.

Trade experts, including the CBI and the TUC, who are advising the government on a U.S. trade deal, are refusing to sign confidentiality agreements as they will gag people for up to 7 years...

twitter.com/i/status/1286247505517252608

The government is not being transparent with the British public about what the UK will have to give up to achieve a trade deal and doesn't want anybody talking about it.

I hope this will be the final nail in the Tory coffin - it is utterly shameful - they swore it would not be part of a Deal, again and again. Shocking. I would like to hear anyone come on here and say that they support this and that they did not lie.

I am very miserable about this. We knew it would happen and, lo and behold, here it is. Now it will be downhill all the way. Our greatest national treasure, underfunded for years, now being chopped up and sold. It's death will be engineered by the Tories, voted into office largely by the older generations, the people most likely to need the NHS's services.

People baffle me.

I read an interesting article yesterday ( will try to find it), basically all those Tory supporters who believed that the NHS wouldn't be sold off were right. It will stay, but the services provided will be slowly reduced. We all know about little things like ear syringing no longer being provided, tonsillectomies not being done.....and many have chosen to ignore these changes and even excuse them by blaming the patients themselves ( smokers/obese/health tourists etc), but it will be interesting to read in just a few years the moans and complaints as those same supporters find they have to pay for their knee replacements, hip replacements as they are no longer considered to be emergencies. We are heading towards a self inflicted two tier medical system and it frightens me.

@ProgressiveLulu

PLEASE GUYS, I NEED YOUR HELP! I want to organise mass protests in every U.K. city to protest the Tories selling off our NHS to US and Trump. I can’t do this alone. F**k tweeting about it and help me get this done PLEASE. I can’t do this alone. I need you guys xxx

Flaxwoven I have sent my email to my MP this morning. I live in a marginal constituency, so we are following his performance carefully.
I can't think any of my fellow constituents or many MPs to be honest, would really agree that both the NHS and animal welfare Amendments should have been defeated.

Bits of the NHS have already been privatized by the back door. You can check how your MP voted. Mine did not vote (his wife was Health Minister in the past) and another local MP voted against. The media need to splash this across the front pages.

I totally agree curlywirly and there's absolutely no pleasure or satisfaction in knowing this was coming just frustration and sorrow, even, that our most cherished institution is now so vulnerable. Those Thursday claps were just the hollow sound of hypocrisy in retrospect.

I know Nannee49 but surely even the most loyal rightwingers can't agree with this latest development. As the older generation, we will no doubt be needing our NHS even more in our twilight years; do we really want to be worrying about health insurance and whether we can afford the price of a hospital visit or doctor's appointment if private healthcare becomes the norm? Be interesting to see how our Tory GN voters defend it, because as far as I can see, they can't.

Sadly, curlywhirly, our magnificent NHS isn't precious to us all. It's precious to you and me and all the other clear minded folk on GN but unfortunately not to those, especially, who 'lent' their precious vote to this absolute bunch of buffoons now in government. Trust the Tories to keep our NHS safe?!! Really??

Well our NHS is very precious to us all, especially so during this pandemic. Hopefully this will be one change too far for the electorate and something will be done - remember the poll tax? But with the 'I'm all right Jack' and the 'I'll put up with anything as long as we Brexit' brigade, I won't hold my breath - lambs to the slaughter.

Remember “project fear”?

I’d like to ram that bloody phrase down their throats.

It's hardly a great surprise is it? Above all else, business and profit and the shrinking of the state's responsibilities for public services in general is what the Conservative Party stands for and why they attract the very large donations of wealthy individuals and businesses. They have a record of selling off thousands of UK assets to all comers and of privatising vital services - quite often with disastrous consequences. It seems British people don't really care. When it comes to the NHS, however, they may, very belatedly, start to care.

I've just checked and saw that my MP also voted against the amendment. He's just had an email from me. I couldn't wait until morning.

Grany thank you so much for that. I have just looked at the link - my MP was one who voted against the amendment, the lowlife. I'm not a political animal at all, but enough is enough. He'll be getting a strongly worded email from me in the morning, be interested to see his excuse, that's if he bothers to reply.

It's a tragedy - but you could see this coming from a few years ago.
So much more depressing because now our parl. has agreed to it. As Grany says, look at the current system in the USA.
Where the only winners are the insurance companies.
And the pharmaceutical companies.

all the vile Tory MP's from Scotland voted against the NHS being protected.....par for the course ,tories voting AGIANST their country is the norm in Scotland so no one is surprised ,our election s are next year ,expect a tory free zone ,if there is a god expect a vote on Independence on the paper too and the TRUE ,russia free result will be a resounding YES

Full list of MPs who voted against the NHS being protected from foreign control in Brexit trade deals

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/full-list-of-mps-who-voted-against-the-nhs-being-protected-from-foreign-control-in-brexit-trade-deals/21/07/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=TLB&fbclid=IwAR0JRPpn1861R2Rh3FTkfTaL5VYeCFS8FDz0tWSAPUpfgDjKYdhuQpel9NA

Are there any Tory MPs with a conscience? Would be interesting to see which MPs voted for or against this amendment. It's just one catastrophe after another with this Government, I don't know why I am surprised, naivety I suppose. I despair, I truly do.

totally - this is seriously worrying - so much for independent Great Britain

The Vote Leave government have cut us off from the EU, and picked fights with China and Russia (possibly for good reasons). Where does that leave the charade of "global Britain"?

We are now entirely at the mercy of a predetory USA led by an unspeakably awful president.

Rufus G Threepwood one of the best things about the UK.. and they don't value it at all... this pandemic has made it clear just how much we need the NHS.. we don't need this government.. their actions make that plain. In America.. people who are seriously ill with covid 19 are being bankrupted by their medical treatment.. because their insurance is not enough.. and if you don't have private health insurance.. you're probably stuffed... horrible humans they are.. the lot of them.