Thank you for contacting me about the Trade Bill and New Clause 12.
I appreciate your concerns, but I do not believe New Clause 12 would be necessary, however laudable the aims behind it. There are several reasons for this.
The Trade Bill is a continuity Bill, and it cannot be used to implement new free trade agreements with countries such as the US. Rather, the Trade Bill is designed to enable the free trade agreements that the EU had signed with third countries before the UK exited to be transitioned. The NHS is already protected by specific carve outs, exceptions and reservations in these trade agreements. I know that my Ministerial colleagues have no intention of lowering standards in transitioned trade agreements, and the very purpose of these agreements is to replicate as close as possible the effects of existing commitments in EU agreements.
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