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The NHS is at critical risk as Boris Johnson wields the national treasure as bait in trade talks with the US, Labour claims.

The health service could be forced to pay a crippling £500million a week more for medicines if thrown open to Big Pharma companies post-Brexit.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn today accuses the Tories of putting the NHS “up for grabs” as he launches Labour’s election campaign.

He pledges never to allow Donald Trump to get his hands on the health service for US firms in a trade deal.

It follows revelations that senior British civil servants have been in secret talks with US firms to discuss the NHS in preparation for a post-Brexit trade deal.

(Image: Xinhua/REX)

(Image: Peter Summers)

On the day the Prime Minister had promised a “do or die” Brexit , the Labour leader will say: “ Boris Johnson ’s planned sell-out deal with Donald Trump means yet more NHS money taken away from patients and handed to shareholders.

“The NHS is up for grabs by US corporations in a Trump trade plot.

“It has been revealed that the cost of drugs and medicines has repeatedly been discussed between US and UK trade officials. Labour won’t let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service.”

As long ago as January, America’s pharmaceutical firms were asking the US government to ensure Brexit trade negotiations increased the price they can charge the NHS for drugs.

(Image: Getty Images)

At a public hearing in Washington DC, Brian Toohey of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America moaned about price controls set by Britain. He went on to say the US-UK Brexit trade negotiations were “an important opportunity” to force the UK to pay the higher drug prices US manufacturers are desperate to charge.

He demanded “full market access for US products” and “competitive market-derived pricing”.

Without the price controls the NHS could be forced to pay hugely inflated American costs – which can be over 20 times more for some medication, costing the NHS billions.

Dr Andrew Hill of the University of Liverpool, an advisor to the World Health Organisation, said: “Our annual drugs bill for the NHS is £18 billion. If we had to have American drug prices we are talking about that going up to £45billion – or £500million a week extra for the NHS to pay.” When the PM went to the US in September he planned to tell business leaders Britain will roll out the red carpet for a trade deal, with tax breaks and fast-track public sector contracts.

And in June, Trump told a press conference in the Foreign Office: “I think everything with a trade deal is on the table. So NHS or anything else...everything will be on the table, absolutely.”

Mr Johnson, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and International Trade Secretary Liz Truss have all insisted the NHS is “off the table” in talks with the US when UK leaves the European Union.

(Image: Leon Neal)

But in the final Prime Minister’s Questions clash before the General Election on December 12, Mr Corbyn told MPs yesterday: “This election is a once-in-a-generation chance to end privatisation in our NHS, give it the funding it needs. Our NHS is up for grabs by US corporations in a Trump trade deal. This Government is preparing to sell out our NHS. Our health service is in more danger than at any time in its glorious history.”

The Commons session was the last PMQs attended by Ken Clarke, 79, before he prepares to retire as the longest-standing male MP in the House of Commons.

Mocking the PM over the claim on his Brexit campaign bus, Labour MP Jon Ashworth said last night: “Boris Johnson famously promised to deliver £350million per week for the NHS but his sell-out deal with Donald Trump could hand over £500million per week more of NHS money to American corporations.”

Yesderday Mr Corbyn visited Crawley Hospital in West Sussex to launch his campaign. Today he takes aim at what he describes as “a corrupt system” – the tax dodgers, bad bosses and big polluters holding the country back.

He says: “This election is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform our country, take on the vested interests holding people back and ensure that no community is left behind.”

He promises “real change is coming” as “when Labour wins, the nurse wins, the pensioner wins, the student wins, the office worker wins, the engineer wins. We all win”.

Doctor-turned-comic Adam Kay warned in the Mirror this week that throwing open the NHS to US drugs firms and health insurance giants would lead to sky-high post-Brexit treatment and prescription prices.

The NHS budget in England is £140billion a year. But the service overspent by £4.3billion in 2017/18, and the 240 NHS trusts owed the Department of Health and Social Care £7.4billion in historic loans.

Labour says the Tories have imposed the longest spending squeeze in the NHS’s history despite huge recent funding injections. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has pledged that Labour will “have a real go” at winning the election – insisting that despite the polls he was confident the party would end up in No10.

Mr Johnson has admitted to MPs he expects a “tough” general election battle.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit party is considering whether to pull out of fighting hundreds of seats to avoid splitting the Leave vote. But by concentrating its efforts on Labour-held marginals which backed Brexit he could deprive the Tories of their target seats.