Theresa May accused of giving Donald Trump the 'green light to get his hands on the NHS'

Theresa May has come under fire for failing to guarantee that the US will be able to access NHS contracts as part of a future trade deal.

Mrs May was asked by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable to confirm that she had made it “absolutely clear” to Donald Trump that the “NHS is not for sale”.

But the Prime Minister appeared to sidestep the question, saying the UK would “go into those negotiations to get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom”.

Sir Vince later branded the answer a “pathetic non-committal response” while a spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was “a matter of great concern” that Mrs May had not ruled out the inclusion of the NHS in a future deal.

And Labour MP Peter Kyle, a supporter of the pro-EU Open Britain campaign, said in a statement: “Theresa May just gave Donald Trump the green light to get his hands on our National Health Service.”

During PMQs, Mr Cable asked: “The Prime Minister knows that one of the key objectives of American trade negotiators in any future deal after Brexit is to secure access for American companies to business in the NHS.

“Can she give an absolute guarantee that in those negotiations the NHS will be excluded from their scope, and can she confirm that in her conversations with President Trump she’s made it absolutely clear to him that the NHS is not for sale?”

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Mrs May replied: “I have to say to (Sir Vince) that we are starting the discussions with the American administration first of all looking at what we can do to increase trade between the US and the United Kingdom already, even before the possibility of any free trade agreement.

“He doesn’t know what they are going to say in their requirements for that free trade agreement: we will go into those negotiations to get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom.”

Asked whether Mrs May would rule out the inclusion of the NHS in any US trade deal, a senior Downing Street source said discussions were still at their outset, but pointed out the Government ensured the health service was excluded from earlier discussions on the failed TTIP trans-Atlantic trade agreement.

A spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “It is clear that the failure to rule out predatory corporate access to our public services and NHS means that that is part of the deal being considered by this Government and this Prime Minister, and that can’t be accepted and will not be accepted.”

The spokesman added: “We can’t accept any arrangement that would allow American corporations or any other country’s corporate sector to cherry-pick parts of the NHS or our public services.”