Ministers are under growing pressure to end the “secrecy” around the UK’s deal with the US over the cost of medicines, which critics claim is “a Trump shakedown of the NHS”.
MPs from Labour and several opposition parties want the government to publish its impact assessment of the agreement it reached last month with Donald Trump’s administration.
Under the deal the UK will pay more for new medicines and let the NHS spend more on life-extending medicines in return for British pharmaceutical exports to the US avoiding tariffs.
The deal has prompted concern among health experts that it could cost the UK government and the NHS billions extra a year to fulfil those pledges by the end of the deal in 2035.
A cross-party group of Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and SNP MPs is meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss how to compel Wes Streeting, the health secretary, and Peter Kyle, the business and trade secretary, to publish the government’s assessment of how the deal could affect the UK. It has been organised by the ex-Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
McDonnell said: “There are real worries that the US/UK deal will result in significantly higher drug costs, which will in turn result in resources being drawn from the investment in NHS services.
“The government has a responsibility to publish a full impact assessment of the deal on the NHS budget and services.”
He wants ministers to commission a separate “open and transparent independent” impact assessment of the deal, to ensure that full details of the potential implications become public.
The cross-party group of MPs will also discuss seeking a Commons debate and vote on the deal and inviting the Commons health, science and business select committees to undertake an inquiry into how the deal was reached and its potential consequences.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Liz Kendall, the science, innovation and technology secretary, have insisted that the deal will cost only an extra £1bn between 2025/26 and 2028/29. They have admitted that the costs will rise after 2028/29, but have not given any estimates of that.
However, ministers have declined to put any figures on the costs involved beyond 2028/29 or which government department will foot the bill. They have not provided those details when answering parliamentary questions from Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs or in correspondence with the science, innovation and technology committee.
As part of the deal, the government has committed to doubling the UK’s spend on new drugs from 0.3% of GDP to 0.6% by 2035, which will entail continued increases in spending between now and then.
Last week, in its response to a freedom of information request by campaign group Global Justice Now, the DHSC refused to provide information on long-term costs or provide copies of correspondence it had had with Kyle and Kendall’s departments. The information sought was exempt under freedom of information legislation, it said.
Tim Bierley, Global Justice Now’s policy and campaigns manager, who submitted the FoI request, said: “The government is refusing to give the public or MPs any useful information about the true costs of this deal, despite being forced to admit the financial burden will grow year on year. With all this secrecy, you have to wonder: what have ministers got to hide?”
The “landmark” deal will safeguard UK patients’ access to medicines, boost pharmaceutical investment in Britain and keep UK drug exports to the US free of tariffs, ministers stress.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, strongly criticised ministers’ refusal to disclose key information about the deal, which he last month called “a Trump shakedown of the NHS”.
“This is an act of surrender by Keir Starmer, who refuses to stand up to the most corrupt US president in history. His weakness means that NHS spending is being set by a foreign regime, not the British people,” said Davey. “It’s an insult to patients suffering on crammed hospital corridors, who have been told time and time again there is no money for the improvements they need.
“The government won’t even tell us what the impact will be on health services, or on our economy. It is clearly just a desperate ploy to placate Trump.”
A DHSC spokesperson said: “The deal is fundamentally about putting patients first. For patients and families facing serious illness, this represents new hope and the possibility of treatments that could transform and save lives.
“Total costs over the spending review period are expected to be around £1bn. Over a longer term, costs will clearly depend on which medicines Nice decides to approve and the uptake of these. This deal will be funded by allocations made at the spending review, where frontline services will remain protected through the record funding secured.
“It is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our NHS and world-leading life sciences sector to increase access to life-saving medicines without taking essential funding from our frontline NHS services.”
