Trump wavers after saying NHS must be on table in US-UK trade talks

Donald Trump has declared he wants the NHS to be on the table in any US-UK trade deal and refused to meet the “negative” Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who pledged to oppose US corporations taking over the health service with every breath in his body. On the second day of his state visit, during which he has been hosted by the Queen and Theresa May, the US president set out his ambitions for a “phenomenal” post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. But following a cross-party backlash, the president later appeared to row back on his comments. In an interview with Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan, he said: “I don’t see [the NHS] being on the table. Somebody asked me a question today and I say everything is up for negotiation, because everything is. But that’s something I would not see as part of trade. That’s not trade.” Appearing earlier in the day alongside the outgoing prime minister at a joint press conference, Trump said US companies should have market access to every sector of the British economy as part of any deal, which he said could lead to a tripling of trade with the UK. “When you’re dealing on trade, everything is on the table. So NHS or anything else. A lot more than that,” he said, although May appeared to have to explain to Trump what the NHS was before he answered the question. Trump’s statement drew immediate condemnation from several Tory leadership hopefuls as well as senior Labour politicians. There are widespread concerns in the UK about US firms promising to provide cost-cutting health services and wanting to sell food produced to lower environmental and animal welfare standards, such as chlorine-washed chicken. Corbyn told a packed protest on Whitehall, not far from the press conference, he would not allow Brexit to open up “our precious wonderful National Health Service to private American companies to come in and take it over”. “We will not stand for that. We will fight with every last breath of our body to defend the principle of a healthcare system free at the point of need for everybody as a human right,” he said.