UK Tories, many of whom accused Jeremy Corbyn of “scaremongering” with his NHS sell-off warnings, have voted against protecting the healthcare system from being a bargaining chip in post-Brexit trade talks with foreign nations.
#Corbynwasright trended on Twitter on Tuesday, following a vote in the House of Commons on the previous night that saw Conservatives reject an amendment to the Trade Bill that sought to protect the National Health Service (NHS) from any form of control outside the UK.
It comes less than a year after former Labour leader Corbyn warned the British public during the 2019 general election campaign that the UK public healthcare system was at risk of being siphoned off by outside foreign interests.
In a dramatic news conference in late-November, Corbyn was seen brandishing documents that he alleged proved that the UK was offering American pharmaceutical companies access to the NHS as part of any post-Brexit trade deal in negotiations with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Many of his detractors accused Corbyn of fear mongering, and suggested that the 451-page document – which was first made available on the discussion site Reddit in October – was not legitimate and instead had links to Russia.
Corbyn refuted the allegations at the time, saying “This is such nonsense. Such utter nonsense. This is desperation by the Conservative party… not even the government has claimed they’re false documents.”
That Corbyn’s fears may have been proven correct with this vote in parliament hasn’t gone unnoticed, particularly among the British Left. Many hit out at those that sought to play down his warnings, with one person aiming their fury at the current UK prime minister by tweeting: “How many times did Borris say that Corbyn was ‘scaremongering’?”
How many times were we warned that this was going to happen?! How many times did Borris say that Corbyn was ‘scaremongering’? They unanimously voted against the protection of the NHS after everything its been through #CorbynWasRighthttps://t.co/ymfg4wzDbi
Others criticized Tory MPs for having accused Corbyn of peddling “conspiracy” theories, while one commenter blamed much of the British public for being distracted by the mainstream media’s portrayal of the former Labour leader as a “terrorist sympathizer” rather than focusing on the damning contents of the report.
Some even questioned whether the lack of coverage given to the story by much of the media in the UK meant that the Conservatives could quite easily “get away with dismantling our NHS” without much uproar.
The Trade Bill, which deals with the UK’s post-Brexit trade policy, has now been passed to the House of Lords for approval.
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