Former Foreign Secretary Urges Brexit to Protect NHS

A Brexit would safeguard the NHS from interference by the “dysfunctional European Union,” warns former Labour Foreign Secretary Lord Owen. He argues that successive UK governments have allowed an EU health market to become entrenched within our national health service.

Reclaiming Control Over the NHS

Lord Owen, who campaigned to remain in the European Economic Community during the 1975 referendum, will officially launch Vote Leave’s ‘Save our NHS’ campaign in London. He believes that voting to leave the EU in June will allow the UK Parliament and devolved administrations—rather than the European Commission or European Parliament—to make all future decisions on NHS policy.

“Now is the time to take back control from the EU and protect our NHS for future generations,” Lord Owen states. “Whatever our views on the present marketisation of the NHS, decisions about our health service should be made by our elected representatives in Westminster and the devolved legislatures.”

TTIP: A Threat to NHS Independence?

Critics of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) fear that a free-trade deal between the EU and the US could open the door to American private health providers targeting the NHS. Lord Owen emphasises that, if voters choose to leave on 23 June, no future UK government could ratify the current TTIP agreement:

“If people vote to leave—as I hope they will—it will automatically follow that no British government can ratify the present TTIP. Thereafter, UK legislation will govern the NHS and we can truly protect it from outside competition.”

The Government maintains that TTIP does not threaten the NHS and instead offers new trade opportunities for British businesses. However, many campaigners remain unconvinced and see Brexit as the only way to secure the NHS’s independence.

For more analysis on how Brexit could reshape healthcare policy, explore our in-depth coverage of Britain’s departure from the EU to protect our NHS.