Jeremy Hunt today insisted that the NHS must not be expected to have EU rules on it imposed after Brexit.

The Health Secretary said Brussels must not expect the UK to be 'rule takers and not rule makers' by having health and medicines regulations imposed on us.

Although he said that Britain will probably choose to keep close regulatory alignment with the bloc after we leave.

He also admitted that our proposed two-year Brexit transition deal may not be fully thrashed out by March this year, as the PM hopes.

Speaking to the health select committee today, Mr Hunt said the millions of Britons who voted Leave expect the UK to free itself from the rulings of EU judges.

And he backed Boris Johnson's call for extra spending on the NHS after Brexit - despite claims the Foreign Secretary was 'bitch slapped twice' by Theresa May in Cabinet this morning for gong public with his demand.

The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured in Parliament today)said Brussels must not expect the UK to be 'rule takers and not rule makers' by having health and medicines regulations imposed on us.

Mr Johnson was told off in Cabinet this morning for breaking ministerial rules and going public with his demand for another £100m a week for health after Brexit.

Hours after the extraordinary row, Mr Hunt faced a grilling by the health select committee about the NHS and Brexit.

And in a move that could put pressure on Mrs May to boost NHS spending, Mr Hunt told them: 'I don't think any health secretary is ever going to not support potential extra resources for his or her department.'

He also made it plain that he believes Britain must not e given orders from Brussels abut healthcare regulation after Brexit.

He said: 'The reason we are not staying in the single market and customs union is that we don't think that would ultimately be compatible with what the British people voted for.

'That is our view – that being subject to ECJ (European Court of Justice) rulings - which is what staying in the single market would mean - but not being able to influence those rules, so being a rule taker not a rule maker, is something that many people in the 52 per cent who voted Leave would find totally unacceptable.'

He said he has no problem with Britain remaining closely aligned with the remaining 27 member states on regulations.

But he warned these rules must not be allowed to be automatically imposed by Brussels.

He said: 'I think the issue is the legal underpinnings.

'So if that regulatory alignment is agreed between two sovereign powers – the EU and the UK – with an international arbitration mechanism... then I think that is completely acceptable I think that's the kind of relationship which could work very well.

Boris Johnson (pictured leaving Cabinet at No10 today) was 'bitch slapped twice' by Theresa May after his public demand for more cash for the NHS, it has been claimed. he was giving a ticking off by the PM after making an extraordinary public demand for a £100m a week Brexit HS dividend

'What I think is difficult to square with my view of what people voted for would be an arrangement where we were obliged to change our regulations in response to a unilateral change o regulations made by the EU going forward.

'I don't think that would be compatible with having control of our own destiny.'

'We can have close regulator alignment outside the single market.'

Mr Hunt was quizzed by MPs on the select committee about what the impact of Brexit will be on the health sector.

During the grilling he admitted that a Brexit transition deal may not be signed off with the EU by March this year - despite Mrs May's big push to get it done by then.

He said: 'The reality is these things have to be negotiated. These things have to be negotiated with the EU.

'The truth is we have made it very clear that we want a transition deal, that was agreed with the EU in December in I think a pretty important moment in negotiations.

'But it was also said that as we move on to discussions on the future relationship there is going to be i's that need to be dotted and t's that need to be crossed in terms of how that transitional deal will work.'