Dominic Raab has admitted that the US will be free to charge higher prices for drugs bought by the NHS after Brexit, but insisted the prospect is “hugely unlikely”.

Asked if Washington would be free to “jack up prices”, the foreign secretary replied: “The Americans will take their decisions.”

He then said: “I think it’s hugely unlikely, why would they do that?” Sky News interviewer Adam Boulton responded: “To get more money, that’s why.”

The comments come after documents released by Labour revealed that drug pricing has been discussed by US and UK negotiators in exploratory talks.

Officials from the Department for International Trade had “positive bilaterals” and met with PhRMa, the US pharmaceutical lobbying group, to discuss priorities for a future trade deal.

Mr Raab again insisted that the NHS would not be “on the table for negotiations” in the US-UK trade deal that the prime minister, Boris Johnson, is desperate to secure after leaving the EU.

The government would “walk away” rather than sign up to an agreement that put the health service at risk, he said.

However, the US has demanded “full market access” in the NHS and is known to want to end the ability of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which regulates medicine prices in the UK, to block drugs it does not consider value for money.

The Trump administration also wants to change patent law, potentially paving the way for US drug firms to demand higher prices for their medicines and over a longer period of time.

In his first comments since arriving in the UK for the Nato summit, the US president tried to dismiss his interest in the NHS, saying: “I have nothing to do with it. Never even thought about it, honestly.” Read more

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